Markets slip into red

The markets have slipped into the negative. The Sensex is down 12 points at 18204 and the Nifty is down 10 points at 5457.
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Update at 14:34 hrs
The markets continue to trade in a tight range, with the Sensex at 18,255 up 38 points and the Nifty up seven points at 5475. The Smallcap (0.9%), and the Midcap index (0.5%) continue to perform better than the benchmark index (0.1%).

The movers in the Smallcap space are Andrew Yule, which surged 15%, followed by Bombay Burmah Trading, up 12%, and Varun Shipping, gaining 11%. In the Midcap index, Essar Ship Ports has added 13%, Phoenix Mills has gained 10% and Wockhardt is up 8%.

On the losers list in the Smallcap index are Future Capital and Coralhub, down nearly 7% each, followed by Jindal World and Well Pack Papers, which lost 5% each. In the Midcap space, Sigrun Holdings is down nearly 5%, followed by Manappuram General Finance and Bayer Crop, Which lost nearly 4% each.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, realty and IT continues its stronghold, while PSU, Power and Oil & Gas still continue to languish in the red.

SBI, up 2.4% at Rs 2658, continues to lead the Sensex gainers list, closely followed by Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki, up 1-2%. Reliance Infrastructure, down 1.3%, tops the losers list on the benchmark index. The other significant losers are ONGC, Reliance Communications and ICICI Bank, down 1% each.

The market breadth continues to remain positive; 1771 stocks advanced while 1157 declined.