Sensex lacklustre; HDFC Bk, ICICI Bk, Bharti, ITC slip

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At 10:27 hours IST - the 30-share BSE Sensex was completely lacklustre in trade and was trading in two-way moves. Oil & gas, pharma, auto and select power stocks along with L&T, HUL and Reliance Communications were supporting the markets.

However, selling was seen in banking & financial (especially private banking), metal and realty stocks along with Bharti, DLF, Wipro, ACC and Jaiprakash Associates.

The Sensex was trading at 17172, up 8 points and the Nifty was at 5131, up 3 points. The Nifty March future was trading flat. 

The broader indices were outperforming the benchmark indices with marginal gains; the BSE Midcap Index was up 0.22% and Smallcap up 0.5%.

The market breadth was marginally in positive; about 1558 shares advanced while 1284 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 349 shares were unchanged.

Reliance Industries, Texmo Pipes, Core Projects, Man Infraconstruction, Reliance Natural, Tata Power, Shree Renuka and Axis Bank were the most active shares on the bourses.

In the midcap space, Apollo Tyres, Asian Star, Andrew Yule, Whirlpool and Phoenix Mills gained 3-5% while Godfrey Phillip, HMT, ING Vysya Bank, KS Oils and Essar Shipping fell 1.7-3.7%.

In the smallcap space, Graphite India, Graviss Hospital, Atco Corp, Lok Housing and Madhucon Project went up 6-11% while Hinduja Foundries, Thinksoft, Maharashtra Polybutenes, Gee Kay Finance and Prraneta Industries declined 4.8-7.8%.