The markets have weakened a wee bit in the last 30 minutes or so, the Sensex is now down 87 points at 17,846. The NSE Nifty is down 25 points at 5,337.

The IIP numbers have failed to elicit a response from the markets participants. While the industrial output rose by lower-than-expected 15.1% in February 2010 and below the 16.7% rise in January this year, and manufacturing production rose 16% in February from a year earlier, the indices have chosen to give the news a miss. The Sensex is quoting at 17902, lower by 31 points and the Nifty is at 5349, down 12 points.

The FMCG space has strengthened by around 1% to be the leading sectoral gainer on the BSE. Hindustan Unilever has added 1.5% at Rs 224 and ITC has moved up by 1.4% at Rs 272. And index heavyweight RIL has gained 0.7% at Rs 1132.

On the losers side, L&T has weakened by 1.9% at Rs 1609, while Sterlite has shed 1.6% at Rs 872 and Tata Motors has lost 1.3% at Rs 798.

The banking sector has edged lower; SBI and ICICI Bank have shed around half a per cent each. HDFC Bank is, however, up nearly 1%.

The market breadth is positive, out of 2,865 shares traded on the BSE, there are 1,726 advancing stocks as against 1,052 declines.