Markets slipped in the last leg of the trade with the key indices closing down over 1% each. The Sensex was down 202 points at 18,269 and the Nifty gave off 57 points at 5,574 (provisional).
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(Update at 14:56 hrs)
Markets continued to remain volatile in the noon trades with the Sensex up 10 points at 18,482 and the Nifty slipped in the red, down seven points at 5,623.
In the broader markets, the midcap turned flat with a positive bias almost in line with the Sensex while the smallcap slipped nearly 0.1%.
"We are seeing renewed optimism coming back to Indian markets on back of government focus on reforms, increase in global liquidity(QE, Bond buying) and probable beginning of earning upgrade cycle," said Rikesh Parikh, Vice-President (Equities), Motilal Oswal Securities.
In Asia, markets traded on a mixed note. Hang Seng and Nikkei gained 0.2-2.2% each. The Nikkei regained the key 9,000-mark, as investors bet Japan's main opposition party will win next month's election and put more pressure on the central bank to stimulate the ailing economy. However, Shanghai Composite remained in the negative zone.
Realty, Auto, Bankex, Consumer Durables, Power, FMCG and capital Goods down 0.2-1% were the top losers. On the other hand, IT index advanced over 1% along with Health Care and Metal indices up 0.4% and 0.2% respectively.
Among Sexsex-30,Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Dr Reddys Lab, ONGC,Jindal Steel and Coal India up 1-4% were the top gainers.
Tata Motors, Hindalco, Cipla, SBI,ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, BHEL and Gail India down 1-2% were the major draggers.
In individual stocks, Srei Infrastructure Finance surged over 7% at Rs 36.60 on back of heavy volumes on reports that the non-banking finance company has received the Certificate of Registration for floating Srei Mutual Fund, the Infrastructure Debt Fund, from the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ) was locked in 5% upper circuit at Rs 243, also its record high on the BSE, on hopes of higher growth in the second half (October-March) of current financial year 2012-13.
The market breadth turned negative. 1444 stocks declined while 1310 stocks advanced on the BSE.