Sensex volatile; ICICI Bank, NTPC, RIL, Sterlite lead

At 10:35 hours IST - equity benchmarks were quiet in trade and were hovering just around its previous closing values. On one side, metal, oil & gas, power and telecom companies' shares along with ICICI Bank & HCL Tech were supporting the markets.

However, capital goods, technology and cement companies' shares along with SBI, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, HDFC, Bajaj Auto and Maruti were witnessing selling pressure. Despite yesterday's effort, experts do not seem convinced that the market is out of the woods just yet and say that the near to medium-term trend still looks uncertain. Vikas Pershad of Veda Investments said that though the sell-off may have concluded for now, 5300 should not be out of the realm of possibilities in the near-term, before adding that the Nifty could also crack 5,000 going forward. He however does not expect that to happen in the near-term. "I think the decline from the November-December peaks has been in high single digits around 10% but the market breadth in India does not look good, and earnings picture is also little mixed. So we could see further downside from here," Pershad said. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 19,115, up 23 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty went up just 5.7 points to 5,729. Among frontliners, Reliance Infrastructure, Sterlite, M&M, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech and SAIL gained 1.6-3.6%. HCL Tech has outperformed IT majors Infosys and TCS in December quarter. Its Q2 net profit rose 20.85% to Rs 400 crore. However, L&T, BHEL, Infosys, GAIL and Sun Pharma fell 1-2.3%. HDFC Bank and SBI slipped 0.8% each. Tata Coffee, SBI, Orchid Chemical, LIC Housing Finance, L&T, Reliance Industries and Infosys were most active shares on exchanges. In midcap space, KGN Industries, Marico, Manappuram, Polaris and Glenmark were up 3.7-5% while Radico Khaitan, Prism Cement, Shoppers Stop, CESC and ING Vysya Bank lost 2.3-3%. In smallcap space, Tata Coffee, Premier, Modern India, Gayatri Project and Polyplex Corp rallied 7.4-9.4%. However, Sahara One, India Securities, Spectacle Info, LS Industries and SE Investments declined 4-5.5%. _PAGEBREAK_ Nifty flat; HCL Tech, Rel Infra top gainers, Infy slips The benchmark Nifty started the session on a quiet note after a rally seen on Tuesday in last couple of hours of trade. It was consolidating just around its previous closing value. Among frontliners, Jaiprakash Associates, Sterlite, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Reliance Infrastructure, ITC, Sesa Goa, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs and Reliance Industries were on buyers' radar. HCL Tech shot up 5% as its Q2 net profit rose 20.85% to Rs 400 crore. Reliance Infrastructure said would continue to get atleast 20 MW from Tata Power Company (TPC) till MERC decides. Bombay HC upheld Tata Power