The Sensex is quoting at at 17,647, higher by eight points and the Nifty is at 5,277, up four points.

The markets have been soft in the afternoon session of trade. With the mid-morning attempt at a recovery fizzling out rather prematuredly, the indices are again staring at the intra-day lows touched in the earlier part of trade. The Sensex is at 17,552, down 86 points and the Nifty is at 5,245, down 28 points.

DLF has lost further ground on the BSE and is now down 3.6% at Rs 326. Jaiprakash Associates has weakened by 3.2% at Rs 146 and Hindalco has lost 2.3% at Rs 172.

Reliance Communication, Sterlite and Hero Honda are the other key losers. And index heavyweight, RIL has shed 0.7% at Rs 1082.

ITC has bucked the trend and is up 1.7% at Rs 267. Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank have added nearly 1% each at Rs 1810 and Rs 924 respectively.

The market breadth is negative. out of 2,933 shares traded on the BSE, there are 1,048 advancing stocks as against 1708 declines.