Markets unmoved

The Sensex is still trapped in the early morning trading band. However, auto, pharma and IT stocks have perked up in the last one hour or so. The index is now up 20 points at 17,481.

The BSE Oil & Gas index is down 0.4% at 10,674.

RNRL continues to languish at lower levels, post the dis-appointing merger ratio. The stock has slumped 27% at Rs 46.50. On the other hand, Reliance Power has added 2.5% at Rs 180.
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(Updated at 1020 hrs)

Mid-caps, Small-caps outperform; rate sensitives unmoved despite RBI surprise rate hike.

The Sensex is moving in an extremely narrow band of 63-odd points. The index touched a high of 17,504, and a low of 17,440 so far in the day. The Sensex is now down six points at 17,455.

The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indexes have outperformed, and are up 0.4% each.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its bid to tame inflation, after markets hours on Friday announced a 25 basis points hike in repo and reverse repo rates. The central bank is scheduled to meet on July 27 for the credit policy review.

Interestingly the rate sensitive stocks haven't reacted much to the rate hike. The BSE Auto and Bankex are up 0.2% each at 8,203 and 10,687, respectively. The Realty index, however, is down 0.3% at 3,127.

The market breadth is fairly positive - out of 2,348 stocks traded so far, 1,405 have advanced and 853 have declined.

Reliance Communications and Hindustan Unilever have slipped around 1.5% each at Rs 188 and Rs 266, respectively.

NTPC, Hindalco and TCS are the other prominent losers.

Larsen & Toubro, ACC and Wipro are the notable gainers.

Among the Mid-cap space, Trent has zoomed over 10% to Rs 1,050. RCF, United Breweries, National Fertilisers, Zuari, Indraprastha Gas, KGN Industries, Bombay Dyeing, Guj Narmada Vally and GSFC are up 2-5% each.

Gee Kay Finance has shed 5% at Rs 24. Sadbhav Engineering, MVL, Puravankara Projects, Amtek Auto, AIA Engineering, Andrew Yule and Indian Hotels are the other prominent losers.

Among the Small-cap space, Religare Technova has soared 9% to Rs 78. Consolidated Construction, Empire Industries, Om Metals, Minda Industries, Asian Star, Jamna Auto, C&C Construction, FAG Bearings, Ingersoll Rand, Zenith Info, Edserv Soft and Satra Properties are the other major gainers.

On the other hand, Elpro International has slumped over 7% to Rs 557. Rollatainers, Intra Infotech, BAG Films, Maharastra Scooters, Gujarat Natural Resources, Ashapura Mines and Mirc Electronics are the other major losers.