The markets have weakened a wee bit in the last 30 minutes or so, the Sensex is now down 87 points at 17,846. The NSE Nifty is down 25 points at 5,337.
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(Updated at 1319 hrs)
The IIP numbers have failed to elicit a response from the markets participants. While the industrial output rose by lower-than-expected 15.1% in February 2010 and below the 16.7% rise in January this year, and manufacturing production rose 16% in February from a year earlier, the indices have chosen to give the news a miss. The Sensex is quoting at 17902, lower by 31 points and the Nifty is at 5349, down 12 points.
The FMCG space has strengthened by around 1% to be the leading sectoral gainer on the BSE. Hindustan Unilever has added 1.5% at Rs 224 and ITC has moved up by 1.4% at Rs 272. And index heavyweight RIL has gained 0.7% at Rs 1132.
On the losers side, L&T has weakened by 1.9% at Rs 1609, while Sterlite has shed 1.6% at Rs 872 and Tata Motors has lost 1.3% at Rs 798.
The banking sector has edged lower; SBI and ICICI Bank have shed around half a per cent each. HDFC Bank is, however, up nearly 1%.
The market breadth is positive, out of 2,865 shares traded on the BSE, there are 1,726 advancing stocks as against 1,052 declines.