Markets lacklustre, railway stocks in focus

The markets are mostly lacklustre, however the railway related stocks are in limelight owing to the Rail Budget today. The Sensex is down five points at 16,281. The NSE Nifty is down seven points at 4,863.

Among the railway stocks, Stone India is the major loser and has shed 8% to Rs 59.  Titagarh and Texmaco have dropped 7% each to Rs 373 and Rs 137, respectively.

Kalindee Rail and Kernex Microsystems have slipped to their 5% lower circuit at Rs 183 and Rs 152, respectively.BEML is down 2% at Rs 1,040.

Among the Sensex-30 stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra is the top loser on the Sensex, down 2.5% at Rs 955. Tata Motors, Sun Pharma and Reliance Communication has declined 2% each to Rs 683, Rs 1,537 and Rs 157, respectively.

DLF, Hero Honda, BHEL, Tata Steel and ICICI Bank are the other major losers on the Sensex, down 1% each.

Larsen & Toubro and Maruti have advanced 1% to Rs 1,501. The other prominent gainers are Maruti, TCS, NTPC and Reliance, up 0.5% each.

The market breadth is negative, out of 2,736 shares traded, 1,822 have advanced and 825 have advanced so far on the BSE.

Among the sectoral indices, consumer durables and auto index are the major loser on the BSE, down 1% each.  The BSE metal, bankex and the realty indices are down 0.5% each.