Sensex see-saws; private banks, oil & gas slip

ALSO READ See Key Market Stats - Top Gainers/ Losers, Most Actives, Highs/Lows See how Global Markets are trading Indian ADRs Nifty BSE | NSE 30/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

Equity benchmarks were sailing in choppy waters since Monday - as if the market has factored in all negatives as well as positives, and now it could be waiting for EGoM meet. Even the market shrugged off positive global cues.

Oil Ministry says that next Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) meet is likely to be held on May 17 or 18. Oil companies plead to raise petrol prices by Rs 5-6/litre to reduce their under recoveries.

On the one side, technology stocks like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech were trading with 0.5-1% gain. Hero Honda was the top gainer on Nifty, with rising more than 4%.

Even the Ranbaxy Labs was another biggest gainer after its better-than-expected numbers in Q1, with gaining nearly 4%. Company reported 68.4% fall in first quarter net profit of Rs 304.39 crore (YoY) due to sharp drop in sales from outside India. CNBC-TV18 poll was Rs 167 crore.

Metal stocks like Tata Steel, JSPL, Sterlite, Hindalco SAIL and Sesa Goa were up around 1% each. ADAG stocks like Reliance Communications, Reliance Power and Reliance Infrastructure went up 1-1.5%. HUL and DLF too gained 1-2%.

However, financial, oil & gas and cement companies' shares were putting pressure on the market. ITC, Bharti Airtel and L&T were other losers.

At 10:47 hours IST - the 30-share BSE Sensex and 50-share NSE Nifty were trading flat at 18,513 and 5,541, respectively. However, the broader indices were outperforming benchmarks - the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.5% each.

TCS, Divis Labs, SKS Microfinance, Jubilant Foodworks, Ranbaxy Labs, Adani Enterprises, SBI and Infosys were most active shares on exchanges.

Midcap stocks like SKS Microfinance, Jubilant Life, Kwality Dairy, Britannia and OnMobile Global rallied 4-8% while Glenmark, Simplex Infra, Godfrey Phillip, Jyothy Labs and Sobha Developer fell 3-5%.

Smallcap stocks like Kirloskar Brothers, Kanani Industries, Oriental Hotels, Nitin Fire Protection and Hinduja Venture jumped 7-13%. However, Sahara One, Acropetal Tech, Signet Industries, SV Electricals and Empee Sugars lost 4-7%.