Subdued trades continue

Realty, CG and power shares decline

Markets continued to trade in the negative zone after a brief recovery. The Sensex opened at the day's low of 17,800 on weak cues from global markets. The index thereafter regained some strength and recovered to a high of 17,896. The BSE benchmark index is now trading at 17,843 - down 42 points. Nifty is down 12 points at 5,409.

In Asia, markets dipped lower with Nikkei and Hang Seng slipping 0.5-1% each. Japanese exports dropped further, signalling the risks that regional economies have owing to the euro zone debt crisis.

Meanwhile, the rupee has gained 16 paise to 55.41 against the dollar in early trade, extending its rising streak for the third straight session at the Interbank Foreign Exchange as the American currency weakened against euro overseas.

BSE realty index has shed 0.5% at 1,644. Capital goods and power indices are also showing weakness. On the other hand, healthcare, auto and PSU indices have advanced marginally.

Bharti Airtel is trading at Rs 251 - down 3% its lowest level since October 2006 in morning trades on the NSE after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "equal-weight" from "overweight".

NMDC is trading higher by 3% at Rs 186 after the state-owned mining company has hiked prices of fines by 8% and for lumps by 13% for July- September quarter.

State Bank of India has so far halted trading in onshore spot foreign exchange markets because of the nation-wide banking strike. Shares of SBI are down 0.3% at Rs 1,907.

Tata Power has slipped 1.5% to Rs 98, followed by NTPC, Larsen & Toubro and Jindal Steel. On the other hand, Dr Reddy's, Hero MotoCorp, BHEL have added 1-2% each. Maruti Suzuki has added 1% at Rs 1198 after restarting operations in the Manesar plant after almost a month.