Markets have a quiet opening

It has been a rather sober morning of trade. The domestic markets opened flat, as was the case with their Asian counterparts, and have thereafter stuck to a narrow trading range. The Sensex is quoting at 16919, higher by 56 points and the Nifty is at 5071, up four points. The broader market space is holding up as well--The mid-cap index is up 0.2% at 6773 and the smallcap index is up 0.3% at 8527.

Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong and South Korea are flat, with a positive bias. The US markets had declined on Friday as a downgrade by Fitch of Spain's credit rating reignited worries about euro-zone debt issues. The Dow fell 122.36 points to 10,136.61 and the Nasdaq declined 20.64 points at 2,257.04.

The leading gainers on the Sensex are Jaiprakash Associates (strengthened by 2.8% at Rs 130), M&M (hardened by 2.5% at Rs 558) and Hindustan Unilever (gained 1.3% at Rs 238). The other notable gainers are ONGC, Hero Honda and Maruti.

The top losers are Hindalco (weakened by 1.8% at Rs 147), Sterlite (shed 1.5% at Rs 671) and Reliance Communications  (lost 1.4% at Rs 145). And index heavyweight RIL is trading flat, with a negative bias, at Rs 1033.

The market breadth is positive. Out of 1575 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 889 advancing stocks as against 641 dcelines.