Markets continue trade in red, Sensex down 28pts

The markets saw a marginal paring of losses in the mid-afternoon session, but they still continued to operate in a negative belt. The Sensex was down 28 points at 19,584, while the Nifty at 5,885 was off 7 points.

Hindalco Industries was the top gainer on the Sensex, up 2%, at Rs 216, followed by HDFC at Rs 707 and L&T at Rs 1,674 both up 1%. Tata Power, Tata Steel, DLF and SBI were the other stocks which were up between 0.5% to 1%.

Conversely, TCS was the highest loser on the Sensex at Rs 1,198 down 2%. NTPC, also off 2%, was quoting at Rs 188, while Bharti Airtel slipped a little over 1% to Rs 348. HDFC BAnk, Maruti Suzuki, Sterlite Industries, Tata Motors, ONGC and RIL were down between 0.8% to 1.4%.

The broader markets continued to outperform the Sensex, with the Mid-cap index at 7,251 and the Small-cap index at 8,883 both up 1%. Blue Dart was the top gainer on the Mid-cap index up 18% at Rs 1,316. Prestige Estates at Rs 133 and JM Financial at Rs 30 gained 7% each. In the Small-cap space, Zandu Realty zoomed 17% to Rs 2,419, followed by Minda Industries at Rs 306 up 15% and Sarda Energy at Rs 284 up 12%.

The Realty index topped the sectoral indices up 2% at 2,539, followed by the Capital Goods index at 13,758 up 1% and the Healthcare index at 6,138 up 0.3%.

IT stocks continued to sag at 6,597 down 1%.