Markets slip into the red

The markets are trading marginally weak, with the Sensex quoting at 17,078, lower by 23 points, and the Nifty down 12 points at 5096. Metals, energy and realty pack are weighing down on the indices.

The bourses had opened on a positive note, mirroring the green seen across Asia and the US. But they have given up their early gains and turned cautious in an apparent attempt at digesting the prevous week's gains.

The top Sensex losers are Hindalco (weaker by Rs 5 or 4% at Rs 141, Sterlite (lower by Rs 26 or 3% at Rs 888) and Tata Steel (shed Rs 12 or 2% at Rs 563). Jaiprakash Associates, Maruti and ONGC have lost nearly 1% each.

Bharti Airtel has continued its previous week's strength and is trading at Rs 317, higher by Rs 7 or 2.4%. Infosys has strengthened by Rs 29 or 1.2% at Rs 2,411, while Reliance Communication, Tata Motors and TCS have added almost 1% each.

The market breadth is strong. Out of 2,300 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1,386 advancing stocks as against 840 declines.

Suzlon tops the value charts on the BSE, clocking a total turnover of Rs 43.79 crore. This is followed by Tata Steel at Rs 32.15 crore, SBI at Rs 30.72 crore, ICICI Bank at Rs 29.22 crore and JSW Steel at Rs 27.78 crore.

Unitech is leading the volumes charts on the BSE with 5.38 million shares, followed by Unitech at 2.70 million shares, Essar Oil at 1.17 million shares, HDIL at 0.81 million shares and Bharti Airtel at 0.78 million shares.