Market trade marginally down, Sensex down 40pts

After having opened weak, the markets traded in the green for a breif while and have, once again, dipped in the red. The BSE Sensex is at 15,818, down  41 points and the Nifty is at 4,745, down 12 points.

Earlier in the day, the BSE benchmark index touched the day's high at 15,891 and the day's low at 15,672.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE IT, Metal and Oil & Gas indices, down 1% each, are leading the losses.

HCL Technologies, Infosys, TCS and Wipro, down 1-2% each, are the prominent losers from the IT space.

BSE Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Realty, up 2% each, are leading the gains.

Blue Star, Titan Industries, C Mahendra Exports, up 3-7% each, are the prominent gainers among the Consumer Durables stocks.

On the Sensex, BHEL, DLF, Larsen & Toubro, Cipla and SBI, up 2-4% each, are the prominent gainers.

Jindal Steel has shed 3% at Rs 487. Other losers from the pack are Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, TCS and Maruti Suzuki, down 2% each.

Among the individual stocks, Shares of Nitesh Estates rose 3% after the company announced that it expects to generate a revenue of Rs 200 crore from its new luxury residential project at Bangalore. Nitesh Park Avenue,  the super luxury residential project, located in High Grounds, Sankey Road, Bangalore, is expected to be the new iconic landmark in the town, ushering in a new paradigm of luxury living, the company said in a release late Thursday.

Shares of KEC International gained 3% on reports that the company would use the proceeds from the sale of its land near Mumbai to reduce its overall debt. As on March 31, 2011, the total debt of the company stood at Rs 1,432 crore. The company has sold the leasehold rights on its land, located at Trans Thane Creek Area, Thane-Navi Mumbai,  to Vodafone Shared Services Ltd for Rs 72.50 crore, the company said in a release.

Shares of retail companies have extended yesterday's gains after the Union Cabinet allowed 51% and 100% FDI in multi-brand and single-brand retail, respectively.

The decision was taken by the cabinet in a meeting later on Thursday amid protests from UPA allies, cleared the proposal along with a set of stringent riders, which may pose a hurdle to many foreign players.

The overall market breadth is positive as 1,474 stocks have advanced against 776 declining ones, on the BSE.