Markets continued to languish in late-morning deal with weakness in banking and oil stocks. The broader markets outperformed the Sensex. The BSE benchmark is down 58 points at 18,880. Nifty is down 24 points at 5,723.
"We think from here on we are moving into consolidation mode between the range of 5650 to 5850 range on nifty with profit taking to take nifty towards 5680 levels before making any decisive break on upside. So its best to create a short strangle kind of strategy on nifty by selling 5600 put and 5900 call for the current month," said Navneet Daga, Derivative Analyst, KR Choksey Securities.
In Asia, markets slipped lower ahead of the earnings season as doubts surfaced about the duration of monetary easing after an upbeat US jobs report on Friday. Shanghai Composite, opening after a week, slipped 0.5% to 2,075. Hang Seng, Kospi and Taiwan Weighted dropped 0.5-1% each.
BSE healthcare index jumped 1.8% to 7,563. Consumer durables, FMCG and metal indices moved up half a per cent each. On the other hand, BSE oil & gas index slipped 1.2%, followed by realty, capital goods and bankex.
ITC was the top mover among Sensex stocks, up 1% at Rs 278. Sun Pharma, HDFC, Bharti Airtel and NTPC were the other prominent gainers.
On the other hand, Reliance slipped 2.2% at Rs 838 after the company refused to follow Oil Ministry order to swap its KG-D6 gas with a Andhra city gas firm saying "trading" in scarce natural resource was not permissible under Gas Utilization Policy.
BHEL, Tata Power, Wipro and Hindalco also showed weakness. State-run oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) rose as US crude oil futures fell for the 2nd day in row. HPCL added 2.2% at Rs 323. BPCL was up 1% while IOC advanced 1.6%, respectively.
Hotel stocks rose after the government came out with data on foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) in India in September 2012. EIH, Indian Hotels, Mahindra Holidays and Hotel Leela advanced 0.5-1% each.
BSE market breadth was positive. Out of 2,488 shares traded, 1,363 stocks advanced while 1,031 stocks declined.