Markets see a quiet start

Markets saw another quiet opening today, on cues from US and Asian markets. The Sensex opened at 18,273. The index slipped into red to a low of 18,238before recovering and touching a high of 18,349.The Sensex up 40 points at 18,315.

Nifty was up eight points at 5,488.

US markets slumped the most in over two-weeks as a lower-than-expected retail sales data for January dampened investor sentiments. Dow slipped 42 points to 12,227. Nasdaq dropped 13 points to 2,804.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note. Hang Seng shed 61 points to 22,838. Meanwhile, Nikkei was up 41 points at 10,788. Te Japanese markets, gaining for the third straight day, crossed the 10,800 mark after nine months.

Indian markets on Tuesday ended a choppy session of trade in the green led by gains in banking and oil & gas shares. The Sensex ended up 72 points, at 18,273. The Nikkei closed at 5481, up 25 points.

Tata Steel would be a stock to watch out for as it reported a two-fold rise in net on Tuesday. The company posted a profit after tax of Rs 1,003 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2010, compared with Rs 472.65 crore in the same period last year. The stock is up 2.5% at Rs 632.

Most of the sectoral indices are in the green, barring realty and auto. Realty index has dropped 1% in opening trades.

Metal index has gained over 1% at the same time. The index is at 15,963, helped mostly by Tata Steel.

DLF shed 2% at Rs 235. HDFC slipped 1.6% to Rs 636.

Tata Motors and Reliance Communications, BHEL, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank were in red.

On the other hand, Jindal Steel, Larsen & Toubro and Sterlite gained 1-2% each.

Other gainers include Hero Honda, Jaiprakash Associates, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries and SBI.