The markets are on a stable footing in this morning's trades. The indices had opened marginally lower, only to rebound and stabilise immediately thereafter. The Sensex is currently quoting at 18156, higher by 12 points and the Nifty is at 5442, up eight points. The midcap index is at 7581, higher by 47 points and the smallcap index is at 9675, up 91 points.
The Asian indices had a mixed opening; the Hang Seng had added 21 points and Nikkei had shed 106 points in early trades. It may be recollected that Wall Street had recovered from intra-day hiccups to end the last trading session on a flat note.
The leading gainers on the Sensex are Tata Motors (strengthened by 1.2% at Rs 905), ONGC (gained 1.1% at Rs 1245) and ICICI Bank (added 0.8% at Rs 960). DLF, ACC and Reliance Infra are the other major gainers.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel has weakened by 1.1% at Rs 318, Wipro has shed 1% at Rs 429 and TCS has lost 1.8% at Rs 858.
The market breadth is positive. Out of 2052 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1561 advancing stocks as against 436 declines.