Markets trading positive

The Indian markets are trading in a very narrow zone in the positive territory. Both the indices are trading higher by around 0.30%. Among the sectors, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Bankex are trading higher by more than 1%. On the other hand, sectors like Power, Capital Goods and Realty are trading down in the red zone.

Other Asian markets are trading in a mixed bag, with Shanghai and Nikkei down 1.68% and 0.13% respectively, while Hang Seng is trading marginally in the green zone. The Chinese market is down on the back of speculations that the country's central bank may not ease the rates and would maintain its hawkish stance.

The European markets have opened in the green ahead of the Greek Prime Minster's meeting with other leaders with regard to solving the debt crisis.

Back home, Reliance Industries is holding the market and is trading 1.69% higher at Rs 846.80. Banking stocks like HDFC and ICICI Bank are up 1.38% and 1.23% respectively. Others like ITC, TCS, Hindalco Industries, Wipro, Tata Motors, etc. are trading higher. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel continues to be the major index loser, down 2.27% to Rs 379.70. Other stocks like BHEL, GAIL India and NTPC are trading lower by more than 1%. HUL continues yesterday’s losses, down 1.5% to Rs 380.90. SBI, Infosys, Sterlite Industries,L&T etc are trading marginally in the red zone.

Aviation stocks like Kingfisher (up 20%) Spice (up 18.90%) and Jet Airways (up 16.83%) have gained on the back of news that airline companies can directly import Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF). Suven Life Sciences is up by 4.44% to Rs 16.45, after the news that it has secured 3 product patents for new chemicals entities in Mexico and the US. Cadila Healthcare is down 2.35% to Rs 658.60 after the company reported its Dec 2011 quarter numbers. The company's profits came in at Rs 134.21 cr versus profits of Rs 140.38 cr in the similar period last year.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is weak. 1349 shares declined, 1357 shares gained and 127 shares remained unchanged.We expect the markets to remain volatile for the rest of the day and advise readers to play with caution.