The markets have recovered almost all its losses, and trade on a flat note in noon deals. The Sensex is now down 33 points at 19,045, and the Nifty has declined 16 points to 5,713.
Meanwhile, the European markets too have opened on a quiet note. The FTSE is up six points, while the CAC and DAX have gained 11 points and 30 points, respectively.
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(Updated at 1230 hrs)
Markets are trading in a narrow range with a negative bias in the noon deals. The Sensex touched a low of 18,962 in the past one hour of trade and then recovered a wee bit from those levels. At 1230 hours the Sensex was at 19,031, lower by 47 points and the S&P CNX Nifty was at 5,712, lower by 16 points.
Sterlite Industries is the top loser on the Sensex. The stock has shed 4% to Rs 163. ICICI Bank was also trading lower by 2% at Rs 1068. Hindalco, Jindal Steel, JP Associates, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries were also trading lower by 1-2% each. Meanwhile Morgan Stanley has downgraded Iindex heavyweight Reliance Industries to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight' and cut its target price to Rs 956 from Rs 1,206.
On the other hand DLF was the top gainer, the stock advanced 2.5% to Rs 240. Hero Honda, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Infrastructure, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Mahindra & Mahindra and HDFC were also among the gainers on the index.
The metal stocks continued to reel under the selling pressure after the group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee gave a go ahead to the draft bill for the mining sector, which makes it mandatory for coal miners to share 26% of their net profits with project-affected people. The bill also proposes companies mining other resources to pay 100% of the royalty on their production to the original inhabitants of the project site. The BSE metal index was down 2% or 328 points to 15,096. BSE PSU index was also trading lower by nearly 1% at 8,634. Oil & Gas, Capital Goods, Bankex, FMCG and Healthcare indices were also among the losers. At the same time the upmove in the realty stocks continued. The BSE Realty index was the top sectoral gainer. The index advanced 3% to 2,249 levels. Auto, power, consumer durables and IT stocks also witnessed some buying.
Sterlite Industries, Sesa Goa, Hindustan Zinc, SAIL, JSW Steel, Hindalso, Jindal Steel and Tata Steel were the top losers among the metal stocks. Among the realty stocks D B Realty was the top gainer. The stock surged 16% to Rs 89. Unitech advanced 5% to Rs 37. Orbit Corp, HDIL, Sobha Developers, DLF, Peninsula Land and Indiabulls Real Estate also gained 2-4.5% each in trades so far.
The broader markets trading on a lacklustre note. The BSE mid-cap index advanced 8 points at 7,047 and the small-cap index was down 9 points at 8,438.
The overall breadth was negative as 1,402 stocks were declining while 1,199 stocks were advancing.
