Markets trade listless

The markets are quite unstable as the Sensex dipped into the red brifly, only to recover later. However, the index has managed to stay afloat and not brake the intra-day low of 18,371. The Sensex is at 18,420 up 19 points and the Nifty has gained five points at 5,536. The smallcap index has extended its morning gains at 9,898 and is up 0.9% while the midcap index is stable at 7,838, up 0.4%.The benchmark index is up 0.09%.

On the BSE sectoral indices, Consumer Durables leads up 2.4%, extending its initial gains. PSU index has moved up on the charts gaining 0.8% while initial gainers Auto and Teck is up 0.7% each.Bankex and FMCG has extended its loses to remain in red while ititial losers Oil & Gas rebounded and is up 0.5%.BPCL up 9% and HPCL adding nearly 7% are the top movers in the PSU and the Oil & Gas indices.On the Teck front, Mphasis gaining nearly 3% followed by MTNL, Sun TV Network and Financial Technologies adding 2% each are the major movers.

Jindal Steel ( Rs 703) and ONGC (Rs 1283) up 2% each tops the Sensex gainers charts followed by Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Power,Cipla and BHEL.

Jaiprakash Associates (Rs 121) down nearly 2% laeds the Sensex losers list. ITC, HDFC Bank and Hindalco are the other prominent losers. Market heavy weight RIL has slid 0.6% at Rs 982.

Market breadth continues to remain positivee with 1808 stock advances and 897 declines on the BSE.