Flat trade continues

After opening flat, the Sensex attempted a northward journey but was halted at 18,569, up 85 points from the opening due to the selling pressure witnessed in the Realty and FMCG counters. Hence, the Sensex slipped erasing all the morning gains only to recover later. Currently the BSE benchmark index is up 27 points at 18,496 while the Nifty is flat at 5,537.
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(Updated at 0927 hrs)

The markets opened on a quiet note with the Sensex up 48 points at 18,518 and the Nifty started the day at 5,547 up 10 points. However, the broader markets began trading comparetively better with the smallcap index up 0.2% and the midcap index gained nearly 0.1% as compared to the Sensex flat at 0.02%.

Among the sectoral indices, Health Care down 1% lead the losses followed by Metal, IT and Power which lost between 0.3-0.7%. On the other hand, Oil & Gas was up 0.5% for the secind consecutive day closely followed by PSU and Capital Goods.The draggers in the health care space were Ranbaxy Labortaries down 3%  followed by Cipla, Cadila Healthcare and Sun Pharma down 0.6% - 1%

Among the 283 midcap scrips traded,193 scrips advanced in the opening trades while 58 scrips declined. The top gainers were Kalpataru Power, Jyothy Labortaries up 5% each, JM Financial, Phoenix Mills and Tulip Telecom added 3% each.

Among the Sensex gainers in the opening trades were Hero Honda up 3%, ONGC, L&T, Mahindra & Mahindra, Jaiprakash Associates, HDFC,DLF and Tata Motors added between 1-2%

The top losers among the Sensex stocks are Bharti Airtel down 3% after its Q4 results,Sterlite Industries, Reliance Infrastructure and Hindustan Unilever losing between 0.6 - 1%

The market breadth was positive. Of the total 1425  stocks traded on the BSE, 911  stocks ahve advanced while 461 declined.