Sensex gives up gains, stays positive for 3rd day

Mumbai: Stocks consolidated their gains today after US Fed minutes signalled uncertainties over near- term rate hikes.

RBI's concern over inflation in its own minutes dragged banking stocks down. Auto and healthcare shares too suffered.

The benchmark Sensex, which stayed up for most part of the day, hit a high of 31,937.51 on the back of rally in Infosys stock following the company's buyback proposal and unabated buying by domestic institutional investors.

However, it succumbed to profit-booking before closing up by 24.57 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 31,795.46. The gauge had gained 557.30 points in the previous two sessions.

The broader NSE Nifty after recapturing the 9,900-mark advanced to hit a high of 9,947.80, but ended at 9,904.15, up 6.85 points, or 0.07 per cent.

Shares of Infosys, the country's second largest software services exporter, zoomed 4.54 per cent to Rs 1,021.15, after the company said the board will take up a proposal for buyback of shares on Saturday, helping the key indices maintain rising streak for the third day in a row.