Lacklustre trade continues

The markets continue to trade flat with both the Sensex and the Nifty remaining virtually unchanged at 18,425 and 5,333 respectively.
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(Updated at 1040 hrs)
Markets are trading sideways in the second hour trading as there are no triggers to move the BSE benchmark index either ways. Currently the Sensex is up 11 points at 18,430 while the Nifty remains unchanged at 5,532. However, the broader markets is having a good run with the midcap index adding 0.4% and the smallcap index moving up nearly 0.3%, both outperforming the Sensex which is very flat.

Kunal Bothra, Technical Analyst, LKP Securities states that the overall trend is that of a broad consolidation. The lower end of this band is around 5400 and the upper end is at 5650 levels. This may last for atleast a week from here. If we manage to hold on to the support of 5400, the probabaility of the next trend would increase in the favour of upside.

Among the sectoral indices, some of the previous front runners like Capital Goods and FMCG have seen profit booking. Auto though flat is trading with a negative bias continuing yesterday's weakness. On the other hand, Realty up 1% is the top gainer among the sectors followed by Oil & Gas and Health Care which gained 0.5% each.

Of the total 15 scrips in the realty index, 11 scrips have advanced while only four declined. The movers in this space are D B Realty, Anant Raj Industries, Ackruti City,DLF and HDIL adding in the range of 1-2%

Cipla gaining 1.5% continues to lead the Sensex gainers list after gaining over 2% yesterday. Index heavyweight, Reliance Industries, Reliance Infrastructure, SBI and Mahindra & Mahindra gaining 0.6 - 0.8% are the other noteable gainers.

L&T and Maruti Suzuki down nearly 1% each are the top losers among the Sensex stocks followed by Wipro, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Power, Bajaj Auto, HDFC and ONGC losing 0.6 - 0.8%

Owing to the gains in the broader markets, the market breadth is positive. Of the total 2246 stocks traded on the BSE, 1166 stocks have advanced while 962 declined.