Markets take a breather; Nifty hovers at 7300

The markets seem to have taken a pause as they seek to digest the stupendous gains witnessed in the past week till Monday. The Sensex is quoting at 24,402, higher by a modest 43 points and the Nifty is at 7,282, up 19 points. There is a lot of action in the broader market space for the second day in a row. The midcap index is at 8,206, higher by 115 points and the smallcap index is at 8,492, up 147 points.

The markets have been gripped by a buying frenzy on hopes that a Modi-led disposition would mark a paradigm shift in governance and herald a new era in economic reforms. The benchmark indices had gained a percent on Monday, extending the gains of around 5% in the election week.

On the global front, the Asian equity markets are trading higher following positive cues from US equities. China's Shanghai Composite was up 10 points to 2,016 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 179 points to 22,883. Japan's Nikkei climbed 86 points to 14,092, Singapore's Straits Times was up four points to 3,266 and Taiwan Weighted advanced 27 points to 8,927, while South Korea's Seoul Composite fell nine points to 2,005.

US stocks rose on Monday, with a rally in high-growth names among Internet and biotech shares giving the Nasdaq a gain of almost 1 percent. The Dow Jones advanced 20 points to end at 16,511. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained seven points to finish at 1,885. The Nasdaq Composite shot up 35 points to close at 4,125.

On the economic front, the rupee has opened flat at 58.58 per dollar on Tuesday as against previous day's closing value of 58.59 a dollar. The rupee had strengthened to an 11-month high on Monday, gaining for a fourth consecutive session as strong foreign inflows led domestic equities to record closing highs after the election of a new government to be led by Narendra Modi.

Metal stocks are shining in early trades. Hindalco has strengthened by 3.4% at Rs 157, Sesa Sterlite has gained 2.4% at Rs 233 and Tata Steel has added 1.8% at Rs 459. The information technology stocks are seeing buying interest post the battering received in the previous session. Wipro has jumped by 2.1% at Rs 492, TCS has added 1.9% at Rs 2074 and Infosys has added 1.8% at Rs 3079.

The outperformers of Monday's session are seeing some profit-booking this morning. Coal India has slid by 3.2% at Rs 377 to top the loser's list on the BSE. ONGC has shed 2.1% at Rs 407 and L&T has lost 1.7% at Rs 1498. Index bellweather RIL has lost 1.6% at Rs 1102. The banking stocks, including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have edged lower by upto half a percent each.

The market breadth ended strong with 922 gainers and 175 losers on the BSE.