Market cool ahead of RBI action, Nifty gains 46.75 pts

Mumbai, Jan 24 (PTI) Brushing aside fears of rate hike,financials led the rally on the back of strong earnings,lifting the benchmark S&P CNX Nifty to close above theimportant 5,700 level on the National Stock Exchange (NSE)here today.

The 50-share index traded in a range of 5,756.00 and5,697.75 before ending at 5,743.25, up 46.75 points or 0.82per cent over its previous close.

The session commenced on a positive note amidst mixedAsian cues and traded range bound before slipping into red onprofit-taking in frontline counters at higher levels. The keyindex quickly regained its strength and touched fresh intra-day highs in mid-afternoon before paring some of its gain dueselling in index heavyweights.

Surprisingly banking counters led the major support totoday''s rally ahead of the Apex bank''s policy meet tomorrowafter the sector majors SBI and ICICI Bank declared good thirdearning numbers.

Inflation continues to be a key concern for the growingeconomy as price rise could hurt economic growth and any hikein key policy rates at this juncture would not be viewednegatively considering the growth object, traders said.

Maruti, SBIN, ONGC, M&M, BHEL, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank,Axis Bank, PNB and HDFC were the top gainers from Nifty.

However, Wipro, Sesa Goa, Cipla, SAIL, Reliance, Rcom,Rpower and Reliance Infra registered loses in today''s trade.

Total turnover in the cash segment declined marginally toRs 11,548 crore from Rs 11,599 crore last Friday. A total of5,473.05 lakh shares changed hands in 50,81,23 trades andmarket capitalisation stood at Rs 67,16,215 crore at the endof day.