Indian shares were swinging between gains and losses Monday morning with investors making cautious moves, looking for direction.
After a slightly lower start, the market recovered well but gave up gains and slipped into the red before edging higher on selective buying support. Activity is stock specific with corporate news setting the trend.
Data showing a significant drop in trade deficit, positive cues from Wall Street and steady Asian markets aided sentiment early on in the session.
The benchmark BSE Sensex, which dropped down to 40,308.37 from an early high of 40,542.40, recovered to 40,385.63 subsequently to go up by about 29 points, or 0.07 percent.
The National Stock Exchange's Nifty50 was up 11.30 points, or about 0.1 percent, at 11,906.75. Earlier, the index declined to 11,884.10 from a high of 11,946.20.
Yes Bank declined more than 4 percent. ONGC and Mahindra & Mahindra shed about 1.4 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
Wockhardt Pharma soared 10 percent on reports some big-name companies, including Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Cipla, and Carlyle & Asian Investment Fund PAG are in race to acquire some of Wockhardt's business segments.
Among the gainers, Bharti Airtel rallied 3 percent, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries advanced 2.3 percent, State Bank of India moved up 1.4 percent, Tata Steel added 1.7 percent and Vedanta was up nearly 1 percent.
In the Nifty index, BPCL gained 2.7 percent and Grasim Industries added 2 percent, while UPL and Zee Entertainment Enterprises gained 1.3 percent and 1.15 percent, respectively.
Cadila Healthcare gained nearly 2 percent after the company announced that Zydus has received tentative approval from the USFDA for its Apremilast tablets. The drug is used to treat mouth sores in people who have Behcet's disease, the company said.
Shares of Unichem Laboratories surged 4 percent. Unichem said it has received USFDA's approval for its generic drug Buspar, used for treating anxiety disorders.
On the economic front, official data released after trading hours on Friday showed India's trade deficit narrowed to $11.01 billion in October, from an upwardly revised $18 billion a year earlier.
Exports dropped by 1.1 percent to $26.38 billion in October and imports were down by 16.3 percent at $37.39 billion.
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