The markets slipped slightly in the mid-afternoon trades as the Sensex touched an intra-day low of 18,186. However, the bourses recovered partially thereafter, and the Sensex was at 18,242 down 117 points while the Nifty was at 5,477 down 34 points.
Top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Communication at rs 105 up 2.3%, BHEL at Rs 1,958 up almost 2% and Cipla at Rs 299 up 1%.
Maruti Suzuki at Rs 1,173 down 4% was the top loser on the Sensex, while HDFC at Rs 640 down 3% and Hindalco Industries at Rs 199 down 2% were the other major losers.
The Mid-cap index was at 6,542 and the Small-cap index was at 7,876 both down marginally in the negative.
Capital goods stocks continued to rule the sectoral chart at 12,563 up 0.5%, followed by the Power index at 2,574 up 0.3%. The consumer durables index was flat at 5,868. Havells India at Rs 360 and BHEL at Rs 1,957 both up 2%, followed by Crompton Greaves at Rs 268 up 1% were the top gainers in the capital goods space.
IT was the beaten down sector, and it was down 1% at 6,107. The FMCG and index at 3,438 and the Metal index at 15,343 were both down nearly 1%. In the IT space, HCL Technologies at Rs 453, Infosys at Rs 2,985 and MphasiS at Rs 393 all down 2% were the top losers.