Markets trade subdued

Markets continue to remain subdued followed weak opening in Europe. The Nifty is down one point at 5440 and the Sensex up 20 points at 18,148.

European markets have inched lower in early trades on mixed earnings from the banking sector. The DAX is down 32 points at 6274, the CAC is down 20 points to 3726 and the FTSE is down 57 points at 5339. Also the Dow futures trading at 30 points lower at 10,564 indicating a weak opening on Wall Street.

The metal index is the largest sectorasl loser on the BSE, down down 0.74%; JSW Steel is down 1.8% at Rs 1106, Hindustan Zinc, SAIL and Sterile all down over 1%

The Oil & gas index is also weighing on the bourses. This index is down 0.7%, with HPCL, RIL & Gail India losing almost 1%.

Other prominent losers on Sensex are HDFC Bank down 1% to Rs 2101 and ITC from the FMCG pack down 0.8% at Rs 153.

Technology stocks are outperforming on back of better-than-expected results from New Jersey based IT outsourcing company Cognizant.

Frontline IT stock TCS has touched an all-time high of Rs 866 and is currently up 3.2%, Infosys up 2.58% at Rs 2856 and Wipro is up 2.09% at Rs 421, pulling the IT index up 2.3% to the 5,592 level.

The market breadth is positive. For 1497 stocks advancing 1385 stocks are declining.