The markets have been subdued in the past one hour. The Sensex has recovered marginally from the lows of the day and is now down 92 points at 17885 and the Nifty is at 5373, down 25 pints.
The benchmark indices had a subdued start to the day after Fed chairman Bernanke's comments on the state of the US economy pushed the Dow lower overnight and this, in turn, led to nervousness across Asia.
The top losers on the Sensex are ICICI Bank (weakened by 1.3% at Rs 890), Infosys (lost 0.9% at Rs 2738) and RCom (shed 0.9% at Rs 186). Hero Honda, DLF and L&T are the other major losers. And index heavyweight RIL has edged lower by 0.6% at Rs 1051.
On the other hand, M&M retains its spot at the top of the BSE gainers list. The auto major has strengthened by 1.6% at Rs 627. JP Associates has gained 0.9% at Rs 129 and Tata Steel has rebounded from the day's lows and is at Rs 534, up 0.8%.
There is activity in the broader space though. The midcap index is trading higher by 0.1% at 7435. United Breweries has spurted by 10% at Rs 259, Pidilite has zoomed by 5.8% at Rs 135 and Bajaj Electricals has added 3% at Rs 350. The smallcap index is up 0.1% at Rs 9483, with Hercules Hoists soaring by 13.7% at Rs 144, Magma Fincorp gaining 8.7% at Rs 329 and Bombay Burmah adding 7.6% at Rs 432.
The market breadth is marginally positive. Out of 2712 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1360 advancing stocks as against 1252 declines.