Markets sluggish in noon trades

The benchmark indices are subdued in noon trades on the back of weak Asian cues and a slide in index heavyweight Reliance Industries in the absence of any major announcement by chairman Mukesh Ambani at the annual shareholder meeting. The Sensex is quoting at  18,453, lower by 49 points and the Nifty is at 5536, down 13 points.

The benchmark indices had bounced back this morning after the ruptures of the previous session, largely due to the rally in Reliance Industries ahead of its 37th annual general meeting. But as the AGM turned out into a damp squid, the markets surrendered their early gains to toe the line of their Asian counterparts, which have been largely lower since the beginning of trade.

The ADAG stocks have staged a comeback after a plea was dismissed by a Delhi Court for making Anil Ambani one of the accused in the 2G spectrum scam case. RCom has gained 5.7% at Rs 95 and Reliance Infra has added 3% at Rs 569. L&T, Infosys and M&M are the other significant gainers on the bourses.

On the other hand, Tata Motors has slipped to an eight-month low of Rs 1,019, down 2.7%, to top the losers list on the BSE. The metal space is also having a bad session of trade. Hindalco has weakened by 2.2% at Rs 190, Jindal Steel has slid by 1.5% at Rs 639 and Sterlite has lost 1.1% at Rs 168. And RIL has edged lower by 0.6% at Rs 945 post its AGM.

The market breadth is evenly placed. Out of 2,759 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,309 advanced while 1,317 declined.