Markets off day's low

Markets have been trading near the dotted line this morning.

The Sensex opened with marginal gains and touched a high of 20,006. However, it slipped almost immediately to a low of 19,835 - dragged by metal stocks. The BSE benchmark has managed to recover some of its losses and is now down 52 points at 19,889.

Nifty is down 10 points at 5,976.

Elsewhere, the US markets dipped lower ahead of next week's elections and the GDP data to come out today. Jobless claims dropped to a three month low. Asian markets are trading on a subdued note. The Nikkei has slumped 1.7% to 9,203 following a 1% drop in Japan's industrial output in September clocking its fourth consecutive decline. The Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite have also dipped nearly 1% in trades.

NSE has added 23 new stocks to be traded in the futures & options segment- including Bata India, Bombay Dyeing, DCB, Central Bank of India and Oil India.

Foreign funds sold equities worth a net Rs 950.08 crore and domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 60.44 crore on Thursday according to the NSE data (provisional).

BSE oil & gas index has jumped 1.2% to 11,005. Essar Oil, Reliance Natural Resources ad Cairn India are among the gainers.

However, auto and metal spaces are still trading weak - down nearly 1% each.

Market heavyweight, Reliance, has gained 2% at Rs 1,103. NTPC has added 1.2% to Rs 198.

Larsen & Toubro has added 1% to Rs 2,023. Hindustan Unilever, Cipla and Infosys are among the other gainers.

However, Tata Motors has dropped 2.2% to Rs 1,164, followed by Hero Honda - down 2% at Rs 1,862. Mahindra & Mahindra has slipped 1.3% to Rs 724.

HDFC has dropped 1.7% to Rs 680. Among metal stocks - Hindalco and Tata Steel have shed 1% each. Jindal Steel is down 0.6%.

Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Reliance Infrastructure, ICICI Bank and DLF are among the big losers.