The markets have been stuck on the horns of a dilemma this afternoon. After staging a smart comeback from the intra-day lows seen in the early part of the session, the Sensex is hovering around the previous day's levels, down 27 points at 18,567 and the Nifty is at 5582, down two points. The broader markets have outperformed the benchmark indices; the midcap index is at 7021, higher by 33 points and the smallcap index is at 8368, up 27 points.
The BSE benchmark was down nearly 150 points in early trades in what was apparently a knee-jerk reaction to the serial blasts that rocked the commercial capital on the previous evening after a hiatus of around 31 months. The benchmark indices gained in confidence as the day worn off to retrace most of their losses, but seem undecided on the road ahead, atleast for the remaining part of the current trading session.
On the macro front, the June inflation stood at 9.44% compared to 9.06% in April and WPI primary articles index was at 2.8% on a month-on-month basis. On the global front, the Hang Seng and Nikkei are trading flat, with a negative bias, in mid-morning trades.
The interest-rate sensitive realty, auto and financial stocks are doing well this afternoon. DLF has hardened by 1.9% at Rs 231 to top the gainers list on the BSE. Maruti Suzuki has gained 1.5% at Rs 1180 and Tata Motors has added 1.3% at Rs 1057. In the financials space, ICICI Bank has strengthened by 1.3% at Rs 1067, HDFC has added 1.1% at Rs 703 and SBI has added 0.8% at Rs 2453.
On the other hand, Bajaj Auto has slid by 2.3% at Rs 1414 as its Q1 numbers lagged expectations. The country’s second largest two-wheeler maker posted a net profit of Rs 711 crore in the first quarter ended June, 2011, an increase of 20.50% from 590.15 crore seen in the corresponding quarter a year ago. And TCS has edged lower by 0.2% at Rs 1147 ahead of its numbers scheduled to be announced later in the day.
The overall market breadth remains positive; 1,474 stocks have advanced, while 986 stocks have declined.