Trading was subdued since the markets opened today, with the Sensex operating within a range of 84 points. During the late morning sessions, the BSE benchmark was down 68 points at 19,544, while the Nifty slipped 22 points at 5,870.
The bourses opened at the day's high, but slipped into negative territory almost immediately. and were seen languishing in a negative belt ever since. In between the morning session, the Sensex touched the day's low of 19,537, but then pared some its losses. However, the markets continue to witness dull trades.
Hindalco Industries was the top gainer on the Sensex at Rs 216 up 2%, followed by HDFC at Rs 705 and DLF at Rs 274 both up 1%. Tata Power, Tata Steel, L&T, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Communications were amongst the other gainers all up between 0.5% to 1%.
NTPC was the top loser at Rs 188 down 2%, while TCS at Rs 1,203 also down 2% and Bharti Airtel at Rs 348 down 1% were the top losers on the Sensex. HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Sterlite Industries, Tata Motors and Infosys were off 1% each.
In the broader markets, the rally sustained itself, as the Mid-cap and Small-cap indices outperformed the benchmark. The Mid-cap index at 7,255 and the Small-cap index at 8,879 were both up 1%.
Realty stocks picked up momentum, and the index advanced a little over 2% to 2,552. Capital Goods stocks were also in favour as the index moved up nearly 1% to 13,735, while the Healthcare index touched 6,140 up 0.4%.
Realty stocks topping the index were Unitech at Rs 48 up 7%, followed by Parsvnath Developers at Rs 47 up 3% and Ackruti City at Rs 253, which gained 2%. In the capital goods space, Areva T&D was the major gainer at Rs 276, followed by Punj Llyod at Rs 77 and Havells India, up 2% each. On the Healthcare index, Biocon led the gains at Rs 372 up 3.5%, while Cadila Health gained 3% to Rs 824 and Apollo Hospitals moved up 2% to Rs 494.
Technology stocks lost favour today, as a strengthening rupee caused some concern about the profitability of software exporter firms. The IT index declined 1% to 6,590, with Tata Group company TCS off 2% at Rs 1,199. TCS contributed to a fall of 18 points to the Sensex in the late morning session. Tech Mahindra at Rs 726 slipped 1%, while IT bellweather Infosys shed nearly 1% at Rs 3,247. Infosys contibuted 14 points to the loss on the Sensex.
Speaking of the IT counter, Ravi Nathani, a technical analyst, said, "Infosys had a sharp run since last 3 weeks resulting in an over-bought zone in the near term. Expect a technical correction where support is at Rs 3,160 and strong resistance is at Rs 3,300. TCS is the strongest among the top IT Pack on charts. This is also the same sharp rally and now need a halt where as trading is expected to be in consolidation phase with negative bias."
