Markets off day's high; SBI remains weak

The Sensex has pared early gains and is now up 42 points at 20,894. The Nifty is at 6,285 - up 13 points.

Realty index has come off its high and is now up 1% at 3,797. IT, FMCG and metal stocks are in green.
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(Updated at 1023 hrs)

Markets reversed its trend and gained to the day's high as Asian indices started recovering from their lows. The Sensex rebounded 158 points from the low to touch a high of 20,984.

The Sensex is now up 94 points at 20,947.

Nifty is up 25 points at 6,297.

However, banking heavyweight - SBI has slumped 2.7% to Rs 3,327 after reporting a 22.5.% dip in Q2 net profit. The bank's total income, however, increased to Rs 37,925 cr from Rs 33,101 cr in the same quarter the previous fiscal.

On a brighter note, Tata Motors touched a record high of Rs 1,291 ahead of its results. The stock is now up 1.3% at Rs 1,284.

Markets had ended at a record high last week following the US Federal reserve's QE2 decision. A splendid listing of Coal India and US President's annoucement of deals with India cheered the markets.

Power Grid Corporation's FPO opens for bidding today. The government has decided on a price band of Rs 85 - 90 per share. The stock is trading at Rs 99 - up 1%. It had slipped over 4% in yesterday's trades. Following this, other PSU companies like SAIL and IOC are planning FPOs.

Realty index has jumped suddenly to 3,817 - up 1.6% from the previous close. FMCG and metal indices are also in green.

However, BSE bankex is down marginally at 14,877. Bank of Baroda, Union Bank and Punjab National Bank are down along with SBI.

DLF has jumped 1.5% to Rs 364. The realty company will come out with its quarterly numbers tomorrow.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Sterlite, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Hindalco have added over 1% in trades this morning.

BSE market breadth is positive. Out of 2,561 stocks traded, 1,728 have advanced while 743 have declined.