Markets languish in late-morning deals

Oil & gas, Metal shares weigh

Markets continued to trade on a lacklustre note in late morning trades with visible weakness in metal and oil & gas stocks. The Sensex was down 41 points at 19,964. Nifty is down 10 points at 6,045.

"Nifty future has been consolidating in a narrow range of 5970 to 6120 levels from last 24 trading sessions. Maximum Put OI is intact at 6000 strike and 5980-6000 is likely to act as an immediate support," said Chandan Taparia, Derivative Analyst, Anand Rathi Financial Services.

The rupee today appreciated by 23 paise to trade at fresh three-month high of 53.07 against the US dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on sustained selling of the American currency by exporters and banks and increased capital inflows.

Meanwhile, Nirmal Bang in a research report said that the USD/INR can give a dip upto 53.10 but can be bought on dips for the day. It has a good intraday support at 52.90 and resistance is at 53.50. Expected intraday range is 53.10 – 53.50.

BSE mid and small-cap indices advanced marginally in trades. From the sectoral pack also, there was hardly any remarkable movement. BSE realty index gained1% at 2,231. Consumer durables, PSU and auto indices added half a per cent each. BSE metal, FMCG and Oil & Gas indices slipped 0.2-0.4% each.

BHEL continued to lead the gainers pack among the Sensex stocks - up 2% at Rs 227. Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra are among the top gainers from the auto pack. ONGC has advanced 1.2% at Rs 342.

On the other hand, Tata Power has slipped 1.5% at Rs 102. HUL is down 1.3% at Rs 471. Sterlite, Reliance and SBI slipped 1.3% each. ICICI Bank ahead of its results was down marginally at Rs 1,213.

Power Finance Corporation (PFC) is trading higher by about 3% at Rs 212 after the board has recommended an interim dividend of 60% for the current fiscal.

Suzlon Energy has rallied 8% to Rs 22.95 after the company said its subsidiary REpower Systems SE has signed a definitive contract with EDF EN Canada Inc, for delivery of 175.2 megawatt (MW) wind turbines of the REpower MM82 and MM92 type for a project in Qubec, Canada.

DLF is trading higher by 2% at Rs 276 on the National Stock Exchange in an otherwise subdued market. According to reports, the country’s largest real estate company, is aiming at a significant pickup in launches during 2013-14.