Markets consolidate, global cues mixed

Markets remain listless due to lack of any direction from the global markets. The Sensex is trading down 46 points at 19,893 and the Nifty has fallen 20 points to 5970.

Deepak Singh Tanwar, technical analyst said, "the Nifty has good support in the range of 5900-5920. While the outlook is positive, the consolidation process may last for 2-3 days before it starts further upmove"

European markets scale higher in early trades on back of gains in banking, technology and auto stocks. The French CAC 40 index has surged 0.5%, the U.K. FTSE 100 index has risen 0.6%, and the German DAX 30 index has climbed 0.6%.

Asian markets continue to trade mixed on a holiday-thinned trade as China, Japan and Hong Kong markets are shut for the day. Seoul Composite and Taiweighted have risen 0.4% and 0.07% each.

BSE Realty and Bankex are leading the losses from the sectora pack, down 0.7% and 0.4% each. Defensive like Healthcare has bucked the trend, is up 0.7%.

"Investors should partly book profits from most frontline stocks, especially from sectors such as IT and banking. However, one can consider investment in auto on back of strong growth and festive season, cement on pick-up in demand post monsoon and selective pharma scrips," Alex Mathew, research head, Geojit BNP Paribas Securities said.
 
From the realty space, top losers are, Unitech, down 1.8%, HDIL, down 1.3% and Indiabulls Real Estate, down 1%.

Indusind Bank, down 3.1%, Canara Bank, down 1.2% and Kotal Mahindra Bank, down 0.9% are top losers from the banking space.

Orchid Chemicals, up 4.1%, followed by Piramal Health and IPCA Lab, up over 2% each are top gainers from the healthcare sector.

The broader markets continue to outperform. The Small-cap index is up 66 points at 10,219 and Mid-cap index is up 13 points at 8061.

Among the Sensex stocks Bharti Airtel is the top loser followed by Reliance Industires and Jindal Steel, down over 1% each.

Meanwhile, ONGC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Sterlite Industries are the prominent gainers among the Sensex stocks, up over 1% each.

The market breadth is positive out of 2898 stocks traded on the BSE 1549 stocks are advancing and 1250 stocks are declining