Markets trade on a lacklustre note

Markets were volatile in the first hour of trade after opening strong on Asian cues.

Sensex opened at 18,135 but dropped below the 18,000 mark soon after. The index was up marginally at 18,014.

The crucial support on the Sensex on the downside is 17,926- 17,619 and resistance at 18,501, said technical analyst, Prakash Gaba.

Nifty was flat at 5,935.

Asian markets traded on a mixed note as Nikkei jumped to a 9-week high on US jobs data. The index was up 75 points at 10,619. Hang Seng, however, dropped 116 points to 23,793.

"We, as a country, are doing fine and there may be liquidity tightening measures that we will see in short term.  The major concern is inflation and various scams which has dampened the markets. The market is getting impacted because of the foreign institutional investors’ (FII) inflows are becoming negative in this calendar year. I do not know that FIIs will be buyers or sellers, but I can see that the lead indicator is economic performance", said Motilal Oswal, chairman and managing director, MOFSL

BSE realty index bucked the trend and gained 1% at 2,225. FMCG stocks were also up followed by IT.

Meanwhile healthcare index dropped 1% to 6,011.

Cipla dropped 3.6% to Rs 313 following a drop in Q3 net. Dr Reddy's sed 1% at Rs 1,565.

Auto and bankex were also in red.

Tata Motors slipped 2.8% to Rs 1,117. Bajaj Auto was down 1.3% at Rs 1,210. Meanwhile, Hero Honda jumped 2% to Rs 1,572.

Heavyweight, ICICI Bank slipped 1% to Rs 985. Reliance Infrastructure, Larsen & Toubro, Wipro and Jindal Steel were in red.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel jumped 2% to Rs 338 ahead of the TRAI meet. Reliance Communications added 0.8% at Rs 116.

ITC added 1.3% to Rs 155. Infosys, DLF and Jaiprakash Associates added 1% each in trades.