Markets recover from morning lows

Markets recovered marginally from the lows of the morning as heavyweight, Reliance Industries gained.

The Sensex opened in the positive zone but dropped in choppy trades to a low of 18,050. It timmed losses and was down 20 points at 18,179.

Nifty slipped six points at 5,450.

All the sectoral indices, barring oil & gas indices.

BSE realty index slumped 1.7% to 2,103. Unitech dropped 3% to Rs 35. Orbit Corporation slipped 2.7% to Rs 52. Sunteck Realty, Indiabulls Real Estate, HDIL and DLF were down 2% each in trades.

Capital goods, healthcare, IT and metal indices slipped 1% each.

Jaiprakash Associates slipped 3.3% to Rs 84. Mahindra & Mahindra, BHEL, TCS, Larsen & Toubro were down 2-3% each.

Hindalco, Jindal Steel, Cipla, ITC and Wipro were down 1% each.

Meanwhile, Tat aPower gained 2.3% to Rs 1,270 after announcing its Q3 numbers. Reliance Communications added 2% to Rs 99. Bajaj Auto was also in green.

Market heavyweights - ICICI Bank and Reliance slipped 1% each to Rs 1,047 and Rs 926, respectively.

BSE market breadth turned negative. Out of 2,536 stocks traded, 1,380declined and 1,060 advanced in trades.