The markets ended with marginal losses amid a rangebound session after six consecutive sessions of positive close. Selling pressure was seen in banks, metal, capital goods and some power and oil stocks. However, realty and some technology stocks were still witnessing buying interest. The Nifty closed above 5000 mark for the third consecutive session. Market breadth was sightly in favour of the declines. Even the broader markets closed flat.

BHEL, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and SAIL were major draggers while movers - Wipro, ACC, M&M, Unitech, Infosys and Cairn India.

Textile stocks were star performers, Arvind Mills was up over 12%, S Kumar Nationwide up 6%, Alok Industries up 8%.

Sugar stocks like Upper Ganges and Oudh Sugar rallied in today's trade after their results.

Sensex closed down 85.83 points or 0.51% at 16698.04, and the Nifty down 26.50 points or 0.52% at 5022.80.

About 1486 shares have advanced, 1373 shares declined, and 219 shares are unchanged

The BSE Midcap Index ended at 6,699.10 up 1.4%.

The BSE Smallcap Index ended at 8,351.14 up 1.8%.

The BSE Bankex ended at 8,552.46 down 2%. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of India, Andhra Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Oriental Bank, Allahabad Bank moved downwards.

The BSE Capital Goods Index closed down 1% at 13,770.97. BHEL, L&T, Astra Microwave, BEML, Crompton Greave, Thermax, Greaves Cotton, Areva T&D closed lower.

The BSE Auto Index closed at 4,579.55 up 0.7%. Escorts, TVS Motor, Amtek Auto, Cummins, Punj Tractors, MRF closed higher.

The BSE Metal Index closed at 15,548.10 up 0.1%. Hind Zinc, Sterlite, NALCO, Shree Precoated, Mah Seamless, Jindal Steel, Jindal Saw, JindalStainless closed higher.

The BSE FMCG Index closed down 0.4% at 2,372.14. Colgate, ITC, Bata India, Godrej Consumer, HUL, GlaxoSmith Con closed lower.

BSE Oil and Gas Index closed at 11,382.82 down 0.8%. GAIL, Reliance Natura, HPCL, RPL,ONGC, Reliance, ONGC ended in red.
 
BSE power index closed at 3,299.90 down 0.5%. Torrent Power, NTPC, Reliance Energy, Tata Power, Power Grid Corp, Crompton Greave ended in red.

The BSE IT Index was up 1% at 3,982.85. Wipro, I-Flex Solution, Patni Computer, Financial Tech, Mphasis, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Infosys closed higher.

The NSE cash turnover was at Rs 14823.99 crore and the NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 52107.86 crore. The BSE cash turnover was Rs 6314.76 crore. Total market wide turnover was at Rs 73246.61 crore.

Mkts lacklustre: Bank, metal down; realty stks up

The markets are trading lacklustre due to lack of buying interest in index pivitols. Selling pressure seen in banks, metal, capital goods and some power and oil stocks. However, realty and some technology stocks are still witnessing buying interest. The Nifty is still trading above 5000 mark. Market breadth is negative.

At 1:03 hrs IST, the Sensex is down 98.51 points or 0.59% at 16685.36, and the Nifty down 10.60 points or 0.21% at 5038.70.

About 1481 shares have advanced, 1358 shares declined, and 239 shares are unchanged.

Mkts slip; Nifty still above 5K, SAIL, ICICI Bank down

The markets have slipped and are trading sharply lower as selling pressure seen in banks, metal, capital goods and some power and oil stocks. However, realty and some technology stocks are still witnessing buying interest. The Nifty is still trading above 5000 mark. Market breadth is negative; 477 shares advanced while 668 shares declined on the NSE. Midcap and small cap indices turned flat. On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher barring Taiwan Weighted.

At 11:16 am, the Sensex was down 162 points at 16,621 and the Nifty down 35 points at 5,013. About 1320 shares have advanced, 1516 shares declined, and 242 shares are unchanged. 

BHEL, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and SAIL were major draggers while movers - Wipro, ACC, M&M, Unitech and Cairn India.

Banking, metal and capital goods stocks are major culprits for selling pressure in markets; respective indices were down 2.5%, 2% and 1.7%.

Power and oil stocks also slipped, indices fell 1% and 0.6%, respectively.

Textile stocks also witnessing buying interest - Arvind Mills was up over 12%, S Kumar Nationwide up 6%, Alok Industries up 8%.

At 10:18 am - The markets have opened marginally higher but turned into choppy mode in the first half an hour of trade. Selling pressure has seen in metal and banking stocks. Buying was seen in realty, capital goods, power, technology, oil and auto stocks. Market breadth is positive. Midcap and small cap stocks moved up. On the global front, Asian market were trading higher.

At 10:18 am, the Sensex was up 7.49 points at 16,791 and the Nifty up 9.9 points at 5059.

Midcap and small cap stocks were trading higher, indices were up 0.5-1%.  About 1716 shares have advanced, 1115 shares declined, and 247 shares are unchanged.

Top gainers were DLF, Wipro, L&T, Unitech, Tata Power and Cairn India while losers - HDFC Bank, Tata Steel and Satyam.

Metal stocks have taken a knock back approach today, are the draggers to some extent. Major steel companies agreed to hold steel prices for next two three months following PM's request. Tata Steel was down over 3% and SAIL slipped nearly 5%. The BSE Metal Index was down 1.6%.

Banking stocks also taken a dip as major banking stocks are down. The Bankex fell 0.86%.

RNRL, IFCI, Orchid Chem, Reliance and Satyam were most active shares on the bourses.

However, realty stocks have outperformed the other indices, index up 2.74%. Auto, Healthcare, Capital Goods and IT indices were up over 0.5%.

At 9:56 am - The markets have opened higher mirroring marginally higher Asian cues and buying interest in power, capital goods, oil and realty stocks. Midcap and small cap stocks also are trading higher. Market breadth is positive, 409 shares advanced while 107 shares declined. However, metal, banking and some technology stocks are under selling pressure.

At 9:56 am, the Sensex was up 74 points at 16,857 and the Nifty up 31 points at 5,080.

Gainers were BHEL, L&T, Rel Petro, Rel Industries, Unitech, Idea, NTPC, Siemens, DLF, Infosys, Cairn and ONGC while losers - HDFC Bank, TCS, Satyam, Wipro, HUL, SAIL and Tata Steel.

Polaris was up 5% on likely buy back offer, today it is going to announce Q4 results.

On the primary market front, recently listed Titagarh Wagons and Kiri Dyes were down over 1% and 2%, respectively in early trade.

Asian markets have given up some gains but still trading higher. Shanghai Composite was up 3.08% or 97.06 points at 3,244.86. Hang Seng went up 0.87% or 216.40 points at 25,155.55. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.90% or 122.39 points at 13,670.21. Straits Times rose 0.46% or 14.58 points at 3,201.81. Seoul Composite was up 1.01% or 18.09 points at 1,805.58. Taiwan Weighted went up 20.95 points or 0.23% at 9,058.20.

US markets posted their biggest loss in more than a week. Record oil prices and disappointing earnings from technology, health-care and consumer companies rekindled concerns. The Dow Jones was down 0.82% and closed at 12,720. The Nasdaq was down 1.29% and shut shop at 2376. The S&P 500 lost 0.88%, ending at 1,375.

Market cues:

• FIIs net buy $68.8 m in equity
• MFs net buy Rs 99.6 cr in equity
• NSE F&O Open Interest up by Rs 2,078 crore at Rs 71,770 crore

F&O cues:

• Futures Open Interest up by Rs 1,246 crore and Options Open Interest up by Rs 832 crore
• Nifty Apr Futures shed 48 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty May Futures add 57 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty Apr at 5 pt discount, May at 2 pt premium
• Nifty Open Interest Put-Call ratio at 1.35 Vs 1.30
• Nifty Puts add 13 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty Calls add 2 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty June 4800 Put adds 2.7 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty May 5000 Put adds 2.5 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty Apr 5000 Put adds 2 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty May 5000 Call adds 2.6 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty Apr 5000 Call sheds 1.85 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Stock Futures add 5 cr shares in Open Interest