The Sensex is quoting at 15920, higher by five points and the Nifty is at 4752, uo five points.
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(Updated at 0903am)
The markets have opened on a soft note. The Sensex is quoting at 15836, lower by 79 points and the Nifty is at 4750, lower by seven points. The consumer durables and banking sectors are weak this morning.
The Asian markets had opened flat, albeit mixed; the Hang Seng opened lower by 24 points and the Nikkei was down 49 points.
HDFC Bank has weakened by 1.4% at Rs 1551, ONGC has shed 1.3% at Rs 1080 and BHEL has shed 1.1% at Rs 2287, on the BSE. Tata Power, HDFC and ITC are the other prominent losers. And index heavyweight, Reliance is trading marginally lower at Rs 990.
On the other hand, the leading Sensex gainers are Hindustan (stronger by 0.5% at Rs 232), Jaiprakash Associates (higher by 0.5% at Rs 128) and Sterlite (up 0.3% at Rs 752).
The market breadth is positive. Out of 856 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 552 advancing stocks as against 277 declines.