Markets lack vigour in mid-morning trades

The markets seem to have ensconced themselves in no-man's land in mid-morning trades. The Sensex is quoting at 18708, lower by 36 points and the Nifty is at 5620, down 11 points. The midcap index is virtually unchanged at at 6964 and the smallcap index is at 8353, up 15 points. Among the sectoral indices, the rate-sensitive Bankex is down nearly a percent, while metal and realty count among the makor gainers.

The benchmark indices had a quiet start to the day, following the lethargic closing in the previous session. They did spring to life in the first hour of trade, with the Sensex gaining almost 100 points at one point, only to succumb to the force of retracement immediately thereafter.

Tata Power has extended it losses and is now down 1.5% at Rs 1297. Select financials are having a bad session, with ICICI Bank shedding 1.3% at Rs 1081 and SBI losing 1% at Rs 2446.

On the other hand, HDFC has strengthened by 0.8% at Rs 705, Bharti Airtel has gained 0.8% at Rs 385 and Hindalco has added 0.7% at Rs 188. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries has edged higher by 0.2% at Rs 848, reversing Tuesday's slide of more than 2%. And HDFC Bank has hit an all-time high of Rs 2542 on expectations of strong Q1 results.

The market breadth is positive. Out of 2542 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1298 advancing stocks as against 1132 declines.