European cues aid recovery

The markets have partially recouped their losses due to the resilience seen across Europe. The FTSE, DAX and CAC opened flat--on a day when the Shanghai has shed more than 4% and other Asian peers shaved off 1-3%. The Sensex has recovered more than 100 points from its intra-day lows and is now quoting at 17411, lower by 179 points and the Nifty is back above the 5200 mark at 5205, down 56 points.

The credit goes to RIL and banking stocks. RIL has recovered from an intra-day low of Rs 1052 and is now down about 1% at Rs 1068. And banking stocks are looking good, ahead of the credit policy scheduled on Thursday. HDFC is quoting almost 1% up at Rs 2703 and ICICI Bank has edged up marginally at Rs 922.

On the losers side, the high-beta Tata Steel has weakened by 3.5% at Rs 669. DLF has shed nearly 3% at Rs 320 and Wipro has lost 2.5% at Rs 703. Sterlite, ONGC and ITC are the other notable losers.

The market breadth is weak. Out of 2941 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 768 advancing stocks as against 2035 declines.