Markets in a narrow range, indices trade flat

Markets are trading in a narrow range in the noon deals. The Sensex was at 15,817, down 41 points and the S&P CNX Nifty was at 4,744, down 12 points.

Earlier in the day the markets opened in the red. The Sensex opened with a gap of 115 points at 15,743. However the markets recovered from the low levels on back of buying visible in the realty and capital goods stocks. In intra-day deals the Sensex touched the high of 15,891 levels.

According to AK Prabhakar, Senior Vice President, Equity Research with Anand Rathi, "Market has Broken important Support of 4,720 and has closed below 200 Week SMA 4,776 in the last two trading sessions which suggest more weakness in days and weeks to come. Euro-zone crisis, rupee, corporate results have disappointed market in a big way and hope is now on Parliament session if government will be able to push reforms then market would soon react in a positive manner."

Maruti Suzuki is the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down 2.4% at Rs 964. Hero MotoCorp, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Infosys, TCS, Reliance Industries and Bajaj Auto are also trading lower by 1.2-2.4% each in trades thus far.

On the other hand, realty and capital goods stocks are among the top gainers on the Sensex. BHEL was has jumped, 5% to Rs 273. DLF has added nearly 5% at Rs 207. Larsen & Toubro from the capital goods space is also trading higher by 4% at Rs 1,271. SBI, Cipla, Coal India, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC and NTPC are also among the gainers, up 0.2-2% each.

Among the individual stocks, shares of retail companies have extended yesterday's gains after the Union Cabinet allowed 51% and 100% FDI in multi-brand and single-brand retail, respectively.

Jindal Poly Films is trading higher by 6% or Rs 10 at Rs 184 on back of news reports that the company has raised the minimum quantum of shares for the proposed buy-back programme.

On the sectoral front, BSE IT index is the top sectoral loser, down 1.4% or 76 points at 5,440. Metal, Oil & Gas and Auto indices are also trading in the red, down 0.2-0.9% each.

At the same time, Capital Goods index is the top gainer on the sectoral charts. The index has surged 3% or 293 points to 9,582 levels. Realty index has also jumped 2.6% or 41 points to 1,600. Buying is also visible in the consumer durables, power, PSU, banking and healthcare stocks.

From the IT sector, HCL Tech is the top loser, down 2% to Rs 387. Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra , Wipro and Patni Computer are also trading lower.

Crompton Greaves, Thermax, Pipavav Defence, BEML, Lakshmi Machine Works, Praj Industries, Punj Lloyd are the top gainers from the capital goods space, up 0.6-3.3% each.

The broader markets are trading higher by 1%. The BSE mid-cap index has advanced 59 points to 5,650 and the small-cap index is up 80 points at 6,078.

The overall breadth is positive as 1,530 stocks are advancing while 983 are declining.