Markets have a lacklustre session

With no triggers coming from the global quarters or the Indian markets itself, the Sensex continues to trade narrowly between 18,200 and 18,250, a mere 50 odd points. The Nifty too is trading between 4,470 and 5,482, a range of just 12 points.The Sensex is currently at..18223, gaining 44 points while the Nifty is at 5474, up 12 points.The smallcap and the midcap index up 0.6% each continues to outperform the Sensex.

The Asian markets too are trading without any major movement. The Nikkei Stock Average is up marginally by 0.5% at 8,890 while
Hang Seng continues to trade in the red, has fallen 0.07% to 20,619.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, FMCG up 0.9% continues to reign while the Auto index has extended its gains and is up 0.9% too.Bankex is closely following at 0.8%.  However, there is no improvement in the Teck and IT index. The movers in the Auto space are Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors gaining 2.5% each followed by MRF and Exide Industries up 2% each.The graggers in the IT space are Tech Mahindra down 2%, Rolta India and Infosys shedding 0.6% each.

The annual food inflation fell for the second straight week, to 10.05 % for the week ended August 14, as prices of vegetables like potato and onion declined.The overall inflation, which also factors in the rate of change in prices of manufactured goods, fell to single digit after a gap of five months to 9.97 per cent.

Apart from Tata Motors, the gainers on the Sensex are SBI (Rs 2864),DLF (Rs 316) up 1.5% each followed by Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC and Tata Steel gaining 1% each.

Sterlite down 1% (Rs 152) continues to top the Sensex losers chart. Market heavyweight RIL has extended  its losses and is down 0.6% (Rs 962),closely followed by Infosys and Cipla.

Market breadth continues to remain marginally positive. 1527 stocks have advanced while 1192 have declined on the BSE.