By IANS
Mumbai : The bulls in the Indian stock markets took a breather Thursday morning and the markets were trading flat after a strong rally the day before. Cues from markets abroad were not very encouraging either.
After the opening bell, the benchmark sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was down by 52.23 points or 0.26 percent at 19,876.83. The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was up by 5.20 points or 0.09 percent at 5,943.10.
On NSE, the market breadth was positive with over 800 stocks on the advancing side and nearly 300 stocks on the downside. The rupee was quoting at 39.30 against a US dollar.
Most active shares on NSE were Essar Oil at Rs.143.60 with 12,219,846 shares, Reliance Petroleum at Rs.217.45 with 7,419,780 shares and GMR Infra at Rs.218.25 with 6,894,388 shares.
US stocks ended lower on Wednesday on rising oil prices and worries about the credit crisis. While the Dow Jones slipped 76 points to 13,231, the Nasdaq shed 29 points to close at 2,644.
Indian American Depository Receipts (ADR) had a mixed outing on US bourses. Infosys, Satyam, Wipro, Dr Reddy’s, Tata Motors, Patni Computer and ICICI Bank dropped over one-three percent each. HDFC Bank, MTNL, VSNL and Rediff were up around one-two percent each.
Crude oil prices rose further, with the Nymex light crude oil rising $2.92 to $94.09 per barrel. In the metals segment, the Comex gold for December series jumped by $15.70 to settle at $814.70 an ounce.
Most other Asian markets were trading lower Thursday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.53 percent or 153.32 points to 29,012.69, Taiwan’s Taiwan Weighted fell 0.21 percent or 18.53 points to 8,924.40, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 0.62 percent or 22.03 points to 3,502.88, South Korea’s Seoul Composite was down 0.30 percent or 5.95 points to 1,966.63. However, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.34 percent or 52.53 points to 15,552.09.
Top gainers on the Sensex Thursday morning were Bharti Airtel at Rs.888.10 up by 3.34 percent, PNB at Rs.616.10 up by 2.41 percent and Maruti Suzuki at Rs.1,060 climbing 2.09 percent.
Top losers on the Sensex Thursday morning were HDFC Bank at Rs.1,691.50 down by 3.47 percent, Infosys at Rs.1,667.25 down by 2.38 percent and Wipro at Rs.462.45 down by 2.22 percent.