Markets have a subdued closing

The markets had yet another directionless and low-volume session of trade. After a reasonably firm start, the indices quickly squandered their early gains and adopted a wait-and watch approach till the close of trade. And even a semblance of volatility, associated with an impending derivatives series expiry, was conspicious by its absence.

The Sensex infact slipped below the psychological 20k mark, albeit momentarily, in noon trades before ending around the previous day's levels, at 20,025, lower by three points. The Nifty, however, ended just shy of the 6000 mark at 5996, down two points. The midcap index ended at 7619, higher by five points and the smallcap index ended at 9405, up 30 points. The sluggishness in index pivotals such as Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, SBI and RIL was the major culprit.

The cues from the global markets were indecisive as investors awaited the release of key US home price data later in the day. Hang Seng and Nikkei slipped by nearly a percent each, while Straits Times and Seoul added around half a percent each. And on the European front, the FTSE, CAC and DAX are trading flat in mid-day trades. Wall Street had erased earlier losses and ended little changed overnight as investors shrugged off a surprise weekend interest rate hike from China's central bank. The Dow settled down 20 points at 11,552, while the Nasdaq was up four points at 2,669. And trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could gain 12 points at the opening bell.

Among the Sensex-30 scrips, HDFC Bank saw a lot of action, zooming by 2% at Rs 2257, to top the gainers list on the BSE. Tata Power raced ahead byb 1.7% at Rs 1334 and RCom, which was in a corrective mode in Monday's session, bounced back by 1.7% at Rs 139. Wipro, ITC and Jindal Steel were the other significant gainers. 

In the broader market space, Hindustan Copper gained 2.8% at Rs 340 on the news that it has deferred its divestment plans. Aventis Pharma gained 1.3% at Rs 1920 after completing the sale of its 49% stake in Chiron Behring Vaccines Private Ltd (CBVPL) to its joint venture partner Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics Inc for Rs 100 crore. KEC International gained 4% at Rs 490 after bagging Rs 1,018-crore transmission lines construction and various supply and civil orders. And drug firm Venus Remedies gained 1.4% at Rs 269 after receiving patent grants for its antibiotic drug Sulbactomax from Russian and Ukrainian authorities. 

On the other hand, Tata Motors continued its poor recent run. The auto major skid by 2.5% at Rs 1267. ICICI Bank shed 0.9% at Rs 1113, SBI lost 0.9% at Rs 2727 and index heavyweight RIL edged lower by 0.7% at Rs 1047.

The market breadth was neutral. Out of 3014 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1435 advancing stocks as against 1379 declines.