Sensex ends up 9pts

 The Sensex has ended (provisionally) at 17,176 - up nine points. The Nifty has ended at 5,133 - down four points.
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(Updated at 1410pm)

The markets are trading flat in the afternoon session. The Sensex is at 17176, higher by 10 points and the Nifty is at 5135, down one point. The weaker markets have, however, drifted down. The mid-cap and small-cap indices have lost more than half percent each at 6648 and 8382 respectively.

Hindustan Unilever is seeing buying at lower levels after being at the receiving end of investor wrath in the recent past following concerns of a price war brewing in the consumer goods space. After losing over 6% over the past two trading sessions, the FMCG bellwether stock has now strengthened by 2.5% at Rs 225 to be the leading gainer on the BSE. Among the other major gainers, TCS has appreciated by 2.5% at Rs 814 and Wipro has added 2.1% at Rs 723.

The Sensex losers are M&M (weakened by 2.5% at Rs 1108), Reliance Infra (shed 2.5% at Rs 972) and Sun Pharma (lost 2.1% at Rs 1620).

The market breadth is weak. Out of 2819 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 992 advancing stocks as against 1742 declines.