Markets lacklustre in noon deals

Rate sensitives gain ahead of the RBI's credit policy

Markets are trading on a lacklustre note in the noon deals on the back of profit booking visible in the most of the sectors post the Friday's up move. The Sensex is down 14 points at 20,090 and the 50-share Nifty has slipped 8 points to 6,066 levels.

The Asian markets are trading on a mixed note on fears of weak earnings. The Nikkei was down 102 points at 10,824 and Seoul Composite slipped 7 points to 1,940. While, Shanghai Composite was up 54 points at 2,344, Hang Seng advanced 75 points to 23,655 and Taiwan Weighted was also up 42 points at 7,714.

Back home, rate sensitive stocks are trading higher ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's credit policy review which is duye tomorrow. Hero MotoCorp from the auto space is the top Sensex gainer, up 2% at Rs 1,795. Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Auto and ICICI Bank are also trading higher on the Sensex. On the other hand, HUL is the top loser from the heavyweight space. the stock has slipped 2% to Rs 466. ONGC, Reliance Industries, Jindal Steel, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Sun Pharma and Larsen & Toubro are also among the losers.

On the sectoral front, the BSE oil & gas index is the top loser, down 1% at 9,442 levels. Power, consumer durables, PSU, capital goods, FMCG and metal indices are also down 0.2-0.6% each. While, the BSE realty index is the top gainer, up 1% or 23 points at 2,207. Auto, IT and bankex indices are also up 0.3% each.

Among the individual stocks, Biocon is trading higher by 4% to Rs 277 after reporting 9% year-on-year (yoy) rise in net profit at Rs 93 crore for the third quarter ended December 2012 (Q3) driven by period growth in different business verticals.

Shares of companies engaged in delivering education on information technology platform are in limelight on the bourses. Everonn Education, Educomp Solutions, MT Educare, NIIT and Aptech have rallied up to 18% on the back of huge volumes.

Sun TV Network has moved higher by around 2% at Rs 453, its highest level since April 2011, in otherwise subdued equity market on NSE.

The broader markets trading flat. The BSE mid-cap index has advanced 2 points to 6,976 and the small-cap index is up 31 points at 7,173.

The overall breadth is neutral as 1,363 stocks are advancing while 1,163 are declining.