Lacklustre trade continues

The markets continue to trade sideways in the afternoon trades with the Sensex up 283 points at 18,719 while the Nifty has added 87 points at 5,629. In the broader markets, the midcap index is in line with the Sensex while the smallcap index continues to underperform with a 0.7% gain.

Among the sectoral indices, IT index continues to be the top sectoral gainer followed by Auro, Bankex and Capital Goods. On the other hand, Consumer Durables has slipped further and is down 1%.

The top gainers among the Sensex stocks are Bharti Airtel up 3% followed by Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys and Tata Motors gaining 2% each. HDFC, BHEL, Tata Power, L&T and Tata Steel up 1% each are the other notable gainers.

DLF down 0.2% is the only loser among the Sensex stocks in the afternoon trades.

The market breadth continues to be positive. Of the total 2861 stocks traded on the BSE, 1661 stocks advanced while 1079 declined.

Among individual stocks, shares in Axis Bank rise over 4% after its Q1 results.  The company’s net profit is up 27% to Rs 942 crore. Also, Trent, the retailing arm of Tatas, has entered into an MoU with Inditex Group of Spain to develop and promote Massimo Dutti stores in India.