Nifty in tight range on downside; RIL, ONGC, ITC drag

At 13:57 hours IST - the benchmark Nifty was trading in a tight range of 5650-5680 on downside since the beginning of trade today. Heavyweights Reliance Industries, ONGC and ITC were the leading draggers with fall of 2% each, followed by SBI, Bharti, Sterlite and Tata Motors.

Weak global cues also weighed on Indian benchmarks. European markets were down about half a percent. Asian markets too closed lower today - Shanghai plunged 2.9% and Hang Seng lost 1.7%. Nikkei and Straits Times were down 1% each. Kospi and Taiwan declined 0.4% each. The market is in a corrective phase and traders needs to be cautious, says Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Securities. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,878, down 99 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 30 points to 5,661. Among frontliners TCS, Hero Honda, Jindal Steel, ICICI Bank, M&M, Sesa Goa and Sun Pharma gained 0.5-1.3% while Sterlite Industries, Reliance Industries, ITC, ONGC, Bajaj Auto and GAIL lost 1.5-3.6%. New listing - C Mahendra Exports was trading at Rs 112.15 as against issue price of Rs 110 a share. Tata Coffee, Reliance Industries, SKS Microfinance, SBI, Tata Steel and LIC Housing Finance were most active shares on exchanges. _PAGEBREAK_ Nifty tests 5650 again; oil & gas, financials slip At 12:36 hours IST - the benchmark Nifty has tested 5,650 again on the back sell-off in oil & gas, financial, telecom, metal, FMCG and select auto companies' shares. Asian markets too slipped further; Shanghai tumbled 2.7% and Hang Seng lost 1.7%. Nikkei and Straits Times were down 1% each. Kospi and Taiwan fell 0.4% each. Suresh Mahadevan, managing director and head of Indian equities at UBS Securities doesn't see much downside from current levels. However, he doesn