Markets end volatile session marginally lower

DLF, BHEL and ONGC among the top Sensex gainers

Markets ended Thursday's voaltile trading session with marginal losses. The Sensex provisionally closed at 16,435 down 44 points and the Nifty slipped 4 points to close at 4,971.
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(Updated at 1430 hours)

Markets are trading on a flat note in the late noon deals tracking weak European cues. The Sensex is up 16 points at 16,496 and the Nifty is up 8 points at 4,982 levels.

The European markets are trading on a subdued note. The CAC and FTSE are down while the DAX is trading marginaly higher.

In Asia, the markets ended on a weak note. The Hang Seng slipped 103 points to close at 20,227, Nikkei slipped 35 points to 9,009 levels while the Shanghai closed on a flat note.

Back home, DLF, BHEL, ONGC, mahindra & Mahindra, Cipla, Tata Power, HUL and TCS are among the gainers on the Sensex. On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Sterlite Industries, Infosys, Hindalco, State Bank of India, Coal India, ITC, Sun Pharma and Jindal Steel are among the losers.

On the sectoral front, Oil & gas and capital goods stocks are witnessing some amount of buying. The BSE oil & gas index has advanced 54 points to 7,592 and the capital goods index has jumped 49 points to 8,955 levels. Bankex, realty, consumer durables, PSU, and power indices are trading on a flat note.

At the same time, auto, metal IT, and FMCG indices are in the negative zone.

Among the individual stocks, Apollo Tyres has slipped 6% to Rs 79.65, declining over 8% from intra-day high level after reporting 18% year-on-year (y-o-y) drop in net profit at Rs 157 crore for the quarter ended March 2012, due to higher raw material and staff cost.

The broader markets are also trading flat. The BSE mid-cap index is up 16 points at 6,010 and the small-cap index is down 6 points at 6,464 levels.

The overall breadth is neutral as 1,379 stocks are declining while 1,252 are advancing.