Earnings disappointments pull down markets

The markets opened higher this morning, however, have soon pared gains on the back of earnings disappointment from select index stocks. Maruti is particular has been a major loser in early trades.

The Sensex touched a high of 18,194, but is now up two points at 18,133.

The NSE Nifty is down three points at 5,446.

Maruti has slumped nearly 9% to Rs 1,239 after the company reported 20% drop in Q1 net owing to royalty payment.

JP Associates too has tumbled 4.5% to Rs 123 on reporting 5% growth in net profit.

Meanwhile, Hero Honda has tanked 5.5% to Rs 1,850. The company is scheduled to announce its results on Thursday. Tata Motors is down 1%, while Mahindra & Mahindra is trading on a flat note.

SBI, Tata Steel and DLF are the other notable losers.

Bharti Airtel and Sterlite have advanced over 1% each to Rs 318 and Rs 176, respectively.

ICICI Bank, Reliance Communications and Wipro are up 1% each at Rs 920, Rs 190 and Rs 417, respectively.

The market breadth is fairly positive - out of 1,733 stocks traded so far, 1,133 have advanced and 551 have declined.