The markets are witnessing profit-booking in a reasonably volatile afternoon session after surging to three-week highs in early trade. The Sensex is quoting at 18373, lower by 133 points and the Nifty is at 5505, down 45 points. The midcap index is at 6738, down 58 points and the smallcap index is at 8232, down 92 points.
The benchmark indices were going strong this morning and look set to register their sixth consecutive daily gains and end the week on a high, before resistance around the crucial 5600 levels on the Nifty led to a bout of profit-booking in the later part of the noon session.
The shares of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group (ADAG) companies have plunged as the group CEO chairman Anil Ambani was questioned on Wednesday by CBI in a the 2G scam. RCom weakened by 5.6% at Rs 94 and Reliance Infrastructure lost 3.3% at Rs 619. On Thursday, the CBI also questioned Essar Group CEO Prashant Ruia in connection with the company's alleged connection with Loop Telecom. Moreover, there have been reports of a raid at the offices of Kalaignar TV, a TV channel owned by the family of DMK, sparked worries of political stability at the centre.
On the other hand, Jindal Steel has strengthened by 2.8% at Rs 688 to top the gainers list on the BSE. And select financials have extended their previous day's stellar gains, with HDFC jumping by 1.1% at Rs 656 and HDFC Bank adding 1.1% at Rs 2208.
The market breadth has turned weak. Out of 2866 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 956 advancing stocks as against 1816 declines.