Markets quiet in noon trades

The markets are having a relatively quiet afternoon after the upsurge on Tuesday and the follow-up buying witnessed this morning. The Sensex is quoting at 18561, higher by 57 points and the Nifty is at 5575, up 15 points.

The benchmark indices had a stupendous run in the previous session as lower GDP growth in March eased fears of a hawkish stance by the Reserve Bank at its policy meet scheduled next month and continued the good work this morning as Greece hopes had buoyed Wall Street in overnight trades. while the markets have surrendered half of their morning gains on profit-booking and resistance around the technically crucial 5600 levels (on the Nifty), they still have a confident look about them.

NTPC has raced ahead by 2.4% at Rs 173 to lead the gainers charts on the Sensex. RCom has jumped by 1.8% at Rs 91 and Bharti Airtel has gained 1.8% at Rs 381. Maruti Suzuki is up 1.3% at Rs 1243 after reporting a 1.9% increase in total sales for May to 1,04,073 units from 1,02,175 units in the same month last year.

On the other hand, DLF is witnessing profit-booking after recent gains; the stock has weakened by 1.7% at Rs 234. Tata Steel has slid by 1.2% at Rs 581 and Tata Motors has lost 1.21% at Rs 1080.

The market breadth is strong. Out of 2771 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1589 advancing stocks as against 1062 declines.