Markets in a dormant state

The benchmark indices have been bereft of activity in the past one hour. The continuing worries surrounding Europe's debt problems have been acting as a sentiment dampener across Asian and having their ripples back home. The Sensex is now quoting at 17285, higher by 21 points and the Nifty is virtually unchanged at 5179. The midcap and smallcap indices are flat at 7014 and 8938 respectively.

Meanwhile, inflation has eased to 9.59% in April from 9.90% in March.

Bharti Airtel has rallied 2.8% to Rs 266. ITC and TCS have advanced over 1% each to Rs 270 and Rs 775 respectively. Grasim, Cipla and ACC are the other notable gainers.

On the other hand, Tata Steel, Jaiprakash Associates and Sterlite  have declined over 1% each to Rs 565, Rs 131 and Rs 719 respectively. And indx heavyweight RIL has weakened by 0.9% at Rs 1061

The market breadth is neutral. Out of 2343 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1124 advancing stocks as against 1136 declines.