The markets are virtually unchanged this afternoon. The Sensex is quoting at 18027, higher by 33 points and the Nifty is just shy of the crucial 5400 mark at 5399, up 13 points. There is not much happening on the broader market front either; the midcap index is at 6668, higher by five points and the smallcap index is at 8051, down five points.
The Sensex had opened in the green and more importantly, above the 18k this morning, which was a welcome relief after the mayhem witnessed on the previous day. But the benchmnark indices have been unable to build on from thereon.
There are mixed trends in the rate-sensitives, which were at the receiving end of investor fury on Monday. While realty remains out of favour, with the realty index slipping by another 0.6%, the auto index has stabilised and the banking index is actually up nearly a percent.
On the stock-specific front, ICICI Bank has soared by 1.8% at Rs 1025 to emerge as the leading gainer on the BSE. L&T has gained 1.6% at Rs 1639 and Hero Honda has adde d1.6% at Rs 1817.
On the other hand, Reliance Infra has shed 1.8% at Rs 537, TCS has lost 1.6% at Rs 1144 and Hindustan Unilever has lost 1.5% at Rs 299.
The market breadth is even. Out of 2737 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1244 advancing stocks as against 1373 declines.
