Markets in a sedate mood

The rough waves have given way to tranquil waters. The volatility of the morning session, wherein the Sensex swung between a high of 16,601 and 16419 on the downside, has given way to a rather sedate hour of trade. The Sensex is quoting at 16489, higher by 80 points and the Nifty is at 4943, up 23 points. The midcap and smallcap indices are trading flat at 6784 and 8602 respectively.

The oil space continues to do well this morning, thanks to the runaway gains in ONGC and OIL, and the able support provided by the oil marketing companies. ONGC has spurted 8.5% to Rs 1116 and OIL has gained 3.6% at Rs 324. HPCL has strengthened by 2.9% at Rs 346 and BPCL has added 2.8% at Rs 558.    

Telecom stocks have risen as the 3G spectrum auctions ended on Wednesday. Reliance Communication has strengthened by 1.5% at Rs 138, Bharti Airtel has added 0.9% at Rs 262 and MTNL has risen 1.8% to Rs 57 after correcting 19% in the preceding seven trading sessions.

Moreover, SBI has strengthened by 1.2% at Rs 2243 and index heavyweight Reliance Industries has edged higher by 0.7% at Rs 1005 on bargain hunting after its steep recent fall.

The realty space, though, has begun to crack in mid-morning trades. After opening in the green, the sector is now down about a per cent. Stocks such as Parsvnath Developers, Unitech and Unitech are witnessing selling pressure and are down upto 2% each. Among the Sensex-50 losers, Grasim has weakened by 3.9% at Rs 2475, Jaiprakash Associates has shed 2.7% at Rs 117 and DLF has lost 1.9% at Rs 273.

The market breadth is quiet positive. Out of 2270 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1230 advancing stocks as against 944 declines.