At 11.03 a.m., the Sensex was trading up 8.96 points or 0.05% at 18,855.22 with 21 components gaining. Meanwhile, the Nifty was trading lower by 3.50 points or 0.06% at 5,735.25 with 20 components falling.

The 30-share benchmark index, BSE Sensex opened flat with a decline of 13.51 points or 0.07% at 18,832.75, while the broad based NSE Nifty started with a fall of 7.65 points or 0.13%, at 5,731.10.

Sensex Movers

ITC contributed rise of 9.41 points in the Sensex. It was followed by HDFC Bank (4.61 points), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (3.56 points), Tata Steel (3.25 points) and Tata Power Company (2.86 points).

However, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation contributed fall of 13.72 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Infosys (12.42 points), ICICI Bank (7.37 points), Hero Motocorp (2.47 points) and Tata Motors (2.39 points).

Biggest gainers in the 30-share index were Hindalco Industries (1.40%), Tata Power Company (1.38%), Jindal Steel & Power (1.19%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (1.06%), Maruti Suzuki India (1.02%), and Tata Steel (1.00%).

On the other hand, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (1.96%), Hero Motocorp (1.11%), Infosys (0.92%), Sterlite Industries (India) (0.83%), ICICI Bank (0.50%), and Tata Motors (0.40%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Mid & Small-cap Space

The BSE Mid and small caps outperformed their larger counterparts gaining 0.10% and 0.41% respectively.

The major gainers in the BSE Midcap were Delta Corp (4.69%), Amtek India (0.79%), Amara Raja Batteries (0.7%), Dish TV India (0.26%) and Amtek Auto (0.21%).

The major gainers in the BSE Smallcap were Action Construction Equipment (3.5%), Adhunik Metaliks (1.65%), Trident (0.23%), Aarti Industries (0.05%) and Styrolution ABS (India) (0.01%).

Sectors in Limelight

The IPO index was at 1,720.43, up by 8.74 points or by 0.51%. The major gainers were Acropetal Technologies (1.96%), BS TransComm (1.85%), Ashoka Buildcon (1.43%), Bedmutha Industries (1.14%) and Claris Lifesciences (0.28%).

The Metal index was at 10,337.49, up by 50.09 points or by 0.49%. The major gainers were Hindalco Industries (1.4%), JSW Steel (1.23%), Jindal Steel & Power (1.19%), Coal India (0.44%) and Bhushan Steel (0.33%).

The Realty index was at 1,946.83, up by 9.53 points or by 0.49%. The major gainers were DLF (1.24%), Indiabulls Real Estate (0.69%), Parsvnath Developers (0.51%), Oberoi Realty (0.13%) and Godrej Properties (0.12%).

On the other hand, the IT index was at 5,770.12, down by 31.96 points or by 0.55%. The major losers were HCL Technologies (0.86%), Mphasis (0.53%), CORE Education and Technologies (0.42%), Oracle Financial Services Software (0.29%) and Hexaware Technologies (0.22%).

Market Breadth

Market breadth was positive with 1,209 advances against 1,022 declines.

Value and Volume Toppers

United Spirits topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs. 1,098.26 million. It was followed by State Bank Of India (Rs. 511.33 million), L&T Finance Holdings (Rs. 177.12 million) and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (Rs. 147.74 million).

The volume chart was led by Kingfisher Airlines with trades of over 5.01 million shares. It was followed by Unitech (3.29 million), L&T Finance Holdings (2.76 million) and Sujana Universal Industries (2.37 million).