Markets continue to remain listless

Oil shares among top Sensex gainers

Markets continued to remain listless in late morning trades as investors remained cautious ahead of India's current account data to be released later today.

At 11:30AM the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex index was down 11 points at 19,434  while the National Stock Exchange's Nifty-50 index slipped 4 points at  5,905

India's current account data for July-September due after market hours today is expected to show a record high deficit, leading to a negative balance of payments.

Most markets in Asia remained closed on account of year end holidayss. However, concerns over the US 'fiscal cliff' continued to weigh on market sentiment. The Shanghai Composite was up 1.3% and KLSE Composite was down 0.3%.

The sectoral indices on the BSE was led by Realty up 1.5% followed by Metal and Consumer Durables. However, FMCG, Healthcare and IT indices were the top losers.

Oil and Gas shares were up on report that natural gas producers like Reliance Industries (RIL) should be allowed to charge market prices, the Plan for next five years adopted by the nation's highest planning body, headed by the Prime Minister, said late Friday. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up 0.3% at Rs 843 while ONGC was up 0.5%.

Wipro was up 1.5% in an otherwise subdued market in early morning trades after the company said that the shareholders have approved the company's demerger plan in a court convened meeting held in Bangalore on Friday.

Auto shares such as Tata Motors, Mah&Mah, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto were up ahead of the sales numbers for December that are slated to be released by the respective companies from tomorrow.

The broader markets outperformed benchmark indices with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 0.3-0.5% each on BSE.

The market breadth is strong as  1,406  stocks gained compared to 948 declines on BSE.