The benchmark indices are trading in a sideways manner this afternoon. The Sensex is at 17112, lower by six points and the Nifty is at 5134, down 13 points. The broader markets are under pressure, with the midcap index at 5998, lower by 64 points and the smallcap index at 6557, down 87 points.
The markets had edged marginally lower in opening trades, only to bounce back into the green thereafter. But they have been unable to build on the gains during the course of the morning, leading to the current state of impasse. The weakness on the Asian front has not helped matters, either, with the Hang Seng, Nikkei and Seoul shedding around a per cent each.
Cipla remains the top gainer among the index stocks, up 6.3% at Rs 305 on the back of better-than-expected earnings. Tata Motors, Jindal Steel, HDFC Bank and ONGC are the other prominent gainers.
Kingfisher Airlines, which had tanked by as much as 4% in continuation with the losses witnessed on Monday, has made a smart recovery to Rs 21, up 0.9%, on the BSE.
On the other hand, DLF has upstaged Tata Power to top the losers list on the BSE, sliding by 4.4% at Rs 213. Tata Power, ICICI Bank and Jaiprakash Associates are the other key losers.
And state-owned oil marketing companies (OMC), including Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil, have cooled off to the extent of 1-2% each on reports that they may cut the petrol prices by Rs 2 a litre from Wednesday, November 9 after global oil rates softened and the rupee stabilised against the US dollar.
The market breadth is extremely negative, with 1,850 stocks on the declining side as against 724 advancing shares on the BSE.
