Markets in recovery mode; energy shares lead

After plunging in the early morning deals the markets are now on the recovery path. The recovery was led by fresh buying in the oil & gas stocks. As the crude oil prices fell on the hopes of easing demand following the Japanese nuclear crisis. The US crude lost 58 cents to $100.6 per barrel

The Sensex had touched a low of 17,920 in morning trades, but around 1130 hrs has recovered nearly 300 points from the day's low. The index was at 18,207, down 232 points from the previous close.

The S&P CNX Nifty was at 5459, lower by 71 points.

Maruti Suzuki was the top loser among the Sensex stocks, the stock fell 3% on concerns that imports might be affected due to problems in the Japan, the stock was trading at Rs 1,221.

J P Associates, Tata Power, DLF, Reliance Infrastructure, BHEL and Sterlite Industries were also among the losers. On the other hand,  index heavyweight Reliance Industries was the only gainer, the stock was trading at Rs 1019.

On the sectoral front too most of the indices have made a partial recovery the BSE Realty index was the top loser followed by Power, IT, Capital Goods, and Metal indices.

BSE Oil & Gas index was marginally in the red, the index had shed eight points to 9928.

HDIL was the top loser among the realty stocks, the stock had shed 4% to Rs 159, Orbit Corp, D B Realty, Indiabulls Real Estate, Mahindra Lifespace, Unitech, DLF and Ackruti City were also trading lower.

Among the oil & gas stocks Bharat Petroleum added 1% to Rs 577 followed by HPCL and Reliance Industries.

The broader markets continued to trade lower, the BSE mid-cap index had shed 89 points to 6471 and the small-cap index was at 7821 lower by 99 points.

The overall market breadth remained negative as only 586 stocks advanced while 1824 stocks declined.