NSE nifty was up by 0.24 per cent, or 56.30 points to 23,609, while the BSE sensex was at 77,623, up by 0.19 per cent, or 144 points at 9.40 am

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The market is in a consolidation phase, and this is likely to continue. There are no major triggers for aggressive buying or selling.

Even in this consolidation phase, the undertone of the market is bullish and, therefore, buying on dips will emerge, imparting resilience to the market. Strong up moves, will attract profit booking, and, therefore, sustained rally would be difficult.

Even when the market consolidates, leading private sector banking stocks, have the potential to move up further. Large delivery based buying, is happening in this segment. This is perhaps the only segment, which offers value in this overvalued market.”

Top gainers on the NSE include, LTI Mindtree (2.96 per cent), Tech Mahindra (2.19 per cent), Infosys (1.97 per cent), TCS (1.66 per cent), HCL Tech (1.51 per cent). Top losers include, Hindustan Unilever (-0.95 per cent), HDFC Bank (-0.83 per cent), Kotak (-0.82 per cent), Tata Motors (-0.75 per cent), Reliance (-0.62 per cent).

NiftyIT stocks rose 2.39 per cent on the NSE, trading at 35,772.05. BSEsmallcap, was up by 0.60 per cent, while BSE Midcap, was up by 0.41 per cent, indicating gains.