The Indian equity benchmarks were fluctuating between gains and losses as gains in heavyweights like Infosys, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India and Tata Consultancy Services were offset with losses in HCL Technologies, Hindustan Unilever, Titan and UltraTech Cement. The Sensex rose as much as 137 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 18,302.
As of 9:38 am, the Sensex was up 43 points at 61,265 and Nifty 50 index advanced 20 points to 18,276.
Meanwhile, Asian share markets were choppy on Monday as a slew of Chinese economic data confirmed the deadening effect of coronavirus restrictions on consumer spending, prompting Beijing to again ease monetary policy, news agency Reuters reported.
Back home, eight of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Auto index's 1.3 per cent gain. Nifty PSU Bank, Bank, Financial Services, Media and Oil & Gas Indices also rose between 0.4-1 per cent.
On the other hand, Metal, IT, FMCG, Pharma, Realty and Healthcare shares were witnessing selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap shares were witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index advanced 0.3 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index jumped 0.6 per cent.
Hero MotoCorp was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 3 per cent to Rs 2,648. Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, State Bank of India, Eicher Motors, Bharat Petroleum, SBI Life, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Industries also rose between 0.4-2.2 per cent.
On the flipside, HCL Technologies slumped 6 per cent to Rs 1,259 after its third quarter earnings fained to enthuse investors.
UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Coal India, Britannia Industries, Tata Steel, UPL, Adani Ports, Hindalco and Shree Cements were also among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,975 shares were advancing while 1,120 were declining on the BSE.
