In a choppy trading, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today gained about 30 points on selective buying to close at 19,121.83, although investors’ sentiment remained under pressure on weak Asian trend.

The Sensex, which had lost over 600 points in the last two trading sessions, shuttled between gains and losses before ending the day 30.66 points higher at 19,121.83.

The gauge touched the day’s high of 19,201.92 and a low of 18,976.19 as the stocks in teck, refinery, consumer durables and banking gained, while FMCG, power and auto sector ended in negative zone.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved between 5,762.95 and 5,693.25, before ending 11.65 points up at 5,740.75.

HDFC Bank gained for the first time in three days on higher earnings, but investors were still worried on weakening Asian trend after the rating agency Standard and Poor’s lowered US credit outlook to negative.

Rising inflation in the 17-nation European region, sovereign debt crisis and increasing crude oil prices negatively influenced the market sentiment.

HDFC Bank gained 1.4 per cent to Rs 2,348.05, the second-best performer on the Sensex, on sound fourth quarter profit. Axis Bank gained 1.13 per cent to Rs 1,410.60.

Reliance Industries, with heaviest weightage in the 30-share index, rose Rs 1.20 to Rs 1,011.35. Cairn India was up by Rs 7.70 at Rs 344.25 on reports that Sesa Goa has bought 200 million shares or about 11 per cent stake from Petronas of Malaysia. The two carry nearly 16 per cent weightage on the benchmark.

The teck sector index gained the most by 0.77 per cent to 3,692.20, followed by the oil and gas index up 0.62 per cent at 10,030.08. Consumer durables index rose 0.52 per cent to 6,358.15 and banking 0.5 per cent to 13,238.35.

As some investors shifted buying to lower value stocks, the mid-cap sector index rose 0.36 per cent to 7,141.92 and the small-cap 0.29 per cent to 8,762.65.

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