Markets have a quiet session

After staging a smart rally on Monday and beginning the day on a promising note, the benchmark indices seemed to have lost the momentum.

The BSE benchmark hovering around the 18100 mark though most of the day before ending at 18119, higher by 38 points and the Nifty ended at 5440, up eight points.

The midcap index ended at 7516, higher by 0.3%, and the smallcap index ended at 9466, higher by 0.2%.

We had woken up to a positive set of cues this morning. Wall Street had closed at its highest level in 10 weeks overnight, with the Dow gaining 208 points and Nasdaq rising 40 points. as better-than-expected US data boosted optimism about economic recovery.

Moreover, the Asian markets had a confident look about them. As expected, the Sensex followed up its 200+ point gains on Monday by adding nearly 100 points in early trades.

But just when it seemed that the consolidation phase that began around three weeks ago was coming to an end, the indices retraced most of their early gains to end on a sedate note. Perhaps a mellowed closing across Asia and an uninspiring Europe was the culprit.

Banking was the leading sectoral gainer on the BSE for the second day on a trot. ICICI Bank extended its previous day's gains by another 2.3% at Rs 962, bolstered by a good set of quarterly numbers and a 6.4% spurt in its ADR prices.

The stock had underperformed the Sensex by about 7% in the past 3 months. SBI gained 0.8% at Rs 2803 and Axis Bank added 0.5% at Rs 1358.

Hatim K Broachwala, banking analyst, Khandwala Securities is positive on ICICI Bank and Bank Of India on the back of a good set of numbers.

He has specified targets of Rs 525 for Bank of India by the end of a year mainly on lower slippage and higher recovery and Rs 1000 for ICICI Bank on account of an upturn in its balance sheet. Broachwala is also positive on SBI as it is the largest PSU bank and is thus well-positioned to benefit from the economic growth story.

Among individual scrips, Bharti Airtel was the leading gainer on the BSE, strengthening by 3.3% at Rs 328. Hero Honda added 1.7% at Rs 1858. And RIL attracted buying interest around the 1000 level, gaining 1.1% at Rs 1026.

The ADAG pack was at the receiving end after the stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued notices to two of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group companies and its top executives, including its Chairman Anil Ambani, in a matter relating to stock market transactions.

RNRL weakened by 3.3% at Rs 39, and Reliance Power shed 2.5% at Rs 158 and RCom lost 2.3% at Rs 174. And ITC declined by 1.4% at Rs 154 after turning ex-bonus.

In the midcap space, HMT soared by 15.2% at Rs 83, Jubilant Foodworks zoomed by 13.5% at Rs 420 and Cox & Kings added 8.87% at Rs 574.

And in the smallcap space, Coral Hub gained 13.7% at Rs 9, Andhra gained 13.4% at Rs 179 and Aptech added 11.5% at Rs 160.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 3055 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1503 advanxing stocks as against 1422 declining stocks.