Markets down in late morning trades

After opening in the negative, the Sensex shot into the green and touched a high of 18,334in the opening, only to slip into the negative. Weakness in heavyweights like HDFC and ONGC contributed to fall. Currently, the Sensex is down 23 points at 18,186 and the Nifty lost 14 points at 5,473

In the broader market, the indices are mixed. The midcap index down nearly 0.3% is underperforming the smallcap index which is flat with a positive bias and the Sensex down 0.1%

Among the sectoral indices, FMCG index, up 0.7% continues to hold on to its gains and IT index up 0.1% are the only indices in the green. On the other hand, metal index is down 1% along with Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Metal indices down 0.7-0.8%

Maruti Suzuki and ITC up 1.5% each continue to be the top gainers among the Sensex stock. Reliance Communications, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and Sterlite up 0.6-0.9% are the other notable gainers.

The losers are ONGC, Jindal Steel, Jaiprakash Associates down 2% each followed by HDFC, Reliance Infrastructure,DLF and Hero Honda down 1% each.

The market breadth has turned negative. 1224 stocks have declined while 1203 advanced