Markets slip after a brief recovery

The markets after a brief, partial, recovery have slipped back to lower levels. The Sensex is now down 110 points at 20,895, and the NSE Nifty is down 24 points at 6288.

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(Updated ata 1254 hrs)

The markets continue to languish in red owing to persistent profit booking in select counters. The Sensex is now down 142 points at 20,862 and Nifty is at 6275 lower by 37 points.

The European markets have opened on a flat note, CAC is unchanged at 3916 and FTSE is higher by 12 points at 5875. Among the Asian markets Hang Seng has shed 73 points at 24,803 however Nikkei ended the day at 9732 up 106 points.

Back home, ONGC continues to lead the Sensex losers charts, the stock is trading at Rs 1345 down 2.4% followed by Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Honda and Infosys down more than 1.5% each.

Sterlite Industries, Tata Steel, ACC and Hindustan Unilever are significant gainers on the Sensex.

PSU index is the top sectoral loser down 1.24% or 130 points at 10,443 followed by IT, Capital Goods and Banking indices down nearly 1% each, while Metal and Healthcare indices continue to trade higher.

Broader markets are also trading marginally lower, Small-cap index is at 11,040 down three points and mid-cap index is lower by 31 points at 8647.

The market breadth is negative, out of 2957 stocks traded on the BSE, 1603 stocks are advancing and 1298 stocks are advancing.

Meanwhile President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have started the bilateral talks and a joint statement is expected later today.