Sensex, Nifty remain range-bound on Christmas holiday lull; Yes Bank, Apollo Tyres, Hindalco Industries stocks gain

The stock market of India continues to remain range-bound as the Christmas holiday lull counter the trade cheer at Dalal Street. The BSE Sensex edged 22 points up at 41,665 levels while the 50-stocks Nifty index went up 15 points to 12,278 levels. Bank Nifty dipped 30 points at 32,369 levels.

Speaking on the current market trends Simi Bhaumik, a SEBI registered technical equity analyst said, "The market is facing resistance at 12,300 levels. However, it has strong support at 11,970 levels. Bullish or bearish trend can be determined after the breaking of either side of the Nifty range. Until then, I would advise stock market investors to maintain buy on dips strategy."

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Shares of SREI Infrastructure, Reliance Infrastructure, Lemon Tree Hotels, Adani Green Energy, SpiceJet, Syndicate Bank, Reliance Capital, Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank were among the major gainers in the Opening Bell trade session while the stocks of JaiprakashAssociates, CRISIL, CCD, Orient Cement and HCL Technologies were among the major losers in the morning trade session.

Auto stocks led the bull run as the BSE auto index rose 0.54 per cent in the Opening Bell trade session. Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra share price shot up 1.12 per cent, shares of Hero MotoCorp went up 0.88 per cent, Tata Motors shares edged 0.65 per cent higher while shares of Apollo Tyres, Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, Balkrishna Industries and Maruti Suzuki India went up by around 0.50 per cent.

Among the major Asian markets, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index shed 19 points to 23,802.00 levels, Kospi dipped to near 14 points to 2,189.89 levels, Hang Seng crashed 44 points to 27,862.25 levels while the Shanghai market scaled 7.44 points to 2,970.19 levels.