Markets hover around day's low

Markets continue to trade near the day's low in afternoon trades.

The Sensex dipped to a low of 19,634 after recovering from an initial slide. Weak Asian stocks dragged the markets as Moody's Investor Services said it has put Spain's Aa1 rating on review. The Sensex is now at 19,688 - down 113 points.

Nifty is down 42 points at 5,903.

"The markets may move sideways for some time before making a breakout, since it is the year end for most foreign institutional investors (FIIs) as well as the holiday season.  At present, the markets are very delicately poised and there could be a breakout in either direction," says Rishi Nathany, Director, Touchstone Wealth Planners.

IT stocks have gained on positive data from US - the main market for IT services. The BSE IT index has jumped 1.3% to 6,383.

Most other sectoral indices are in the red. BSE realty, bankex and healthcare indices are down 1-2% each.

Telecom stocks have gained. Bharti Airtel has jumped 2% to Rs 341. Reliance Communications has added 1.3% to Rs 130.

Infosys has added 1.6%, followed by TCS (1.5%) and Wipro (1%). Market heavyweight, REliance is up marginally at Rs 1,055.

Meanwhile, Hero Honda has shed 4.6% to Rs 1,635. DLF has dropped 3.5% to Rs 283.

Banking stocks are down. SBI has slipped 3% to Rs 2,705. ICICI Bank has moved down 2.5% to Rs 1,092. HDFC Bank is down 1.8% at Rs 2,195.

Jindal Steel, Jaiprakash Associates, Cipla, NTPC and Bajaj Auto are among the other losers.

BSE market breadth is negative. Out of 2,872 stocks traded, 1,718 have declined while 1,060 have advanced.