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Markets continued to trade in the negative territory in noon deals as weakness in heavyweight scrips like ITC, Infosys, HDFC Bank and Wipro weighed on the indices. At 1425 hrs, the Sensex was down 20 points at 19,761 and the Nifty was flat with a positive bias a t 5,854.
In the broader markets, the mid and smallcap indices gained 0.6% each, both outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was down 0.1%.
Meanwhile, in global markets, dollar rose after Japan's Nikkei newspaper said U.S. President Barack Obama will name former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, while gold and oil declined as the Syrian chemical weapons crisis abated.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.8 percent, pulling further away from a three-month high and on track for a second losing day after a 10-day winning streak.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei share average edged up 0.1 percent, supported by its five-day moving average.
All the major European markets were in the red. CAC, DAX and FTSE slipped 0.1-0.3%.
Sectors & Stocks
On the sectoral front, FMCG, Teck, IT and Consumer Durables indices were in the red, losing 1% each.
Among the ones in the green, Power, Realty and Capital Goods indices were up 2%.
PSU, Auto and Metal indices advanced 1% each along with Bankex and Oil & Gas indices gaining 0.7% each.
Among the Sensex-30, BHEL up 5% was the top gainer followed by Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Power, Coal India and L&T up 2-3%.
Hindalco, NTPC, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, Jindal Steel and SBI up 1% each were the other prominent gainers.
The only scrips in the red in noon deals were Wipro, Bharti Airtel, ITC, HDFC Bank and Infosys down 1-3%.
HDFC, TCS, HUL, Tata Steel and Maruti Suzuki losing 0.2-0.8% rounded off the losers list.
The market breadth was positive. 1,273 stocks advanced while 1,000 stocks advanced on the BSE.
