Markets remain steady

It is turning out into a smooth afternoon for the markets. While the Sensex has pared some of the smart gains registered in the early session, it has steadied mid-point between the intra-day high and low of 20461 and 20250 respectively. The Sensex is quoting at 20302, higher by 51 points and the Nifty is at 6121, up 18 points. There is out-performance on the broader market front; the midcap index is at 8388, higher by 57 points and the smallcap index is at 10647, up 135 points.

There is not much happening on the global market front. The European markets, including the CAC, FTSE and DAC, are trading marginally higher in early trades. And the Asian markets have a mixed look about them, with the Hang Seng adding more than a percent and the Nikkei losing by a similar margin.

The leading gainers on the Sensex are Tata Motors (strengthened by 3.1% at Rs 1139), Sterlite (gained 2.1% at Rs 177) and RCom (added 1.7% at Rs 183). Hero Honda, Tata Steel and RIL are the other major gainers.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel has weakened by 1.7% at Rs 345, TCS has shed 0.8% at Rs 933 and NTPC has lost 0.6% at Rs 213.

The market breadth is positive. Out of 2980 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1933 advancing stocks as against 956 declines.