Nifty directionless; SBI, HDFC down

Markets remained lacklustre as investors chose to stay on the sidelines despite better-than-expected October IIP number and news of an agreement between government and Opposition on the crucial Banking Bill. Both the 30-share Sensex and 50-share Nifty slipped into the red in late afternoon trade. At 14.13 pm, the BSE benchmark was trading down 48.10 points or 0.25% at 19339.04, and the Nifty was down 19.40 points or 0.33% at 5879.40. Europe was trading positive.

Many stocks from the Capital Goods space, like L&T (-1.41%), BHEL (-2.13%), and Crompton Greaves (-1.60%) blunted the markets. Auto, aviation and tech were among the positive contibutors to the Sensex. The agreement on Banking Bill cheered financials with HDFC Bank, PNB and IDFC trading up between 0.33% and 1.56%. On the losing side were India's top lender SBI and housing finance major HDFC; each lost 0.29% and 1.81%, respectively.

Meanwhile, market watchdog Sebi said guidelines to prevent flash-market crash will be in place within a few days.