Markets are trading on a lacklustre note in noon deals on the back of selling in oil & gas, capital goods and IT stocks. The Sensex was down 72 points at 17,010 and the S&P CNX Nifty was at 5,107, down 24 points. Earlier in the morning, the markets had opened marginally higher and then edged lower due to selling in RIL. The Nifty was down 25 points, at 5,105 and the Sensex declined 76 points, at 16,975 at around 11:30 hours.
Meanwhile, European markets have opened higher. The CAC 40 index was up 41 points at 3,259 , DAX was up 40 points at 6,011 and the FTSE was at 5,508, up 46 points.
Back home, Reliance Industries continues to remain the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down 3.5% to Rs 836, after reporting a 16% year-on-year growth in quarterly profit at Rs 5,703 crore for the quarter ended September 2011, against a net profit of Rs 4,923 crore during the July-September quarter last fiscal. NTPC shed 2.2% to Rs 169. Sun Pharma, J P Associates, Larsen & Toubro, BHEL, Bharti Airtel, Jindal Steel, Wipro and Infosys were also among the laggards.
And TCS was trading lower by 0.75% at Rs 1,126 ahead of the second quarter results to be announced later today.
On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki jumped nearly 3% to Rs 1,057 on reports that the company has resumed partial production at the Manesar plant. Tata Motors also jumped 3.2% to Rs 186. State Bank of India, Sterlite Industries, DLF, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC and ONGC were also trading marginally higher.
JSW Energy moved higher by 4% at Rs 51.90 after achieving full commercial operations at its 1,200 mega-watt (MW) Ratnagiri power plant and resumption of operations at the Barmer plant.
NIIT rallied 13% to Rs 49.35 on reports that the company sold its entire stake in the US-based Element K Corporation to SkillSoft Ltd for $110 million (approx Rs 539 crore).
On the sectoral front, BSE Oil & Gas index was the top loser on the sectoral charts, down 2.3% or 201 points to 8,658. Capital Goods index was also trading lower by 133 points at 10,908. Power, Teck, Healthcare, IY, PSU and Metal indices were also trading lower by 0.3-0.9%. At the same time, auto stocks witnessed a fresh bout of buying, up 1% to Rs 8,947. Consumer durables, banking and realty sectors also witnessed some buying. Indian Oil, HPCL, Bharat Petroleum, Essar Oil, Oil India and Gail India were the losers among the oil & gas stocks. Among the auto stocks, Bharat Forge, Mahindra & Mahindra and Exide Industries were the prominent gainers.
The broader markets were trading on a flat note as BSE mid-cap index was unchanged at 6,190 and the small-cap index was at 6,929, up 21 points.
The overall breadth was neutral as 1,245 stocks were declining while 1,239 were advancing.
