Markets turn volatile in afternoon trades

The markets have turned volatile and has slipped into the red in the afternoon trades once again as key benchmark indices pared their earlier gains. The Sensex had hit an intraday high of 18,313 in the afternoon, gaining 193 from the day's low. Currently, the Sensex is flat with a negative bias at 18,262 and the Nifty is hovering around 5,480.

In the broader markets, the smallcap index and the midcap index are trading flat but with a positive bias as compared to the Sensex which is down 0.04%. The smallcap and the midcap indices are outperforming the benchmark index since the start of today's trade.

Among the sectoral indices, Power index has emerged to be the top gainer, up 0.4% along with Capital Goods and Consumer Durables. Meanwhile, Metal, Realty and Oil & Gas indices down 0.3-0.6% are dragging the markets lower. Among the metal space,Bhushan Steel down 3%, Hindalco, NMDC and JSW Steel losing 1% ecah are the top draggers.

NTPC, Reliance Communication,Cipla and Jaiprakash Associates up 2% each are the top gainers among the Sensex stocks.

Apart from the metal stocks, the major losers in the afternoon trades are RIL, SBI, TCS, Tata Motors and DLF losing between 0.4-1.5%

The market breadth continues to be negative. Of the total 2,763 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,373 have declined while 1,283 advanced.