Markets muted in mid-morning trades

The markets are having a quiet session of trade after oscillating more than 200 points in the span of a little over 200 points. The Sensex is quoting at 17778, higher by six points and the Nifty is at 5318, up five points.

It has been a reasonably topsyturvy ride for the markets this morning. The Sensex was down nearly 200 points at one point as the 260-point fall on the previous day trigerred some follow-up selling. But the statement of the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee at the all-party meet on the previous evening hinting that the government may stoop to conquer by agreeing to a JPC probe and thereby break the parliamentary logjam, seems to have provided some silver lining atleast for now. The concerns on the inflation, interest rate and technical parameters fronts still remain, though.

The oil index is the leading sectoral gainer in the Sensex this morning, while realty remains out of favour. M&M has gained 3% at Rs 648 to top the gainers list on the BSE ahead of its numbers scheduled to be announced later in the day. HDFC has gained 2.3% at Rs 605 and RIL has added 1.8% at Rs 932. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Hindustan Unilever are the other significant gainers. And ONGc has bounced back by 0.6% at Rs 283; the stock had tanked by more than 5% in the previous trading session on turning ex-bonus and ex-stock split.

On the other hand, BHEL has slipped 2.9% to Rs 2123, Hindalco has shed 2.6% at Rs 227 and Reliance Communications has lost 2.1% at Rs 108.

The market breadth is weak. Out of 2672 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 625 advances as against 1966 declines.