The Sensex had opened at 18,272 and touched an intra-high of 18,293. However, it is unable to break the 18,300 mark. The Nifty, which has touched a low of 5,466 and a high of 5,486, has been unable to break 5,500 level either.

The Sensex is trading near the day's low at 18220, down 75 points, and the Nifty is at 5460, down 26 points. The broader indices are outperforming the benchmark indices; the BSE Midcap Index is up 0.1% and Smallcap up 0.2%.

Capital Goods index is leading the sectoral pack, up 0.38%, followed by metals, which is up 0.38%. AIA Engineering, up 2% at Rs 364, Thermax up 1.03% to Rs 766, are pulling the Capital Goods index higher.

IT continues to remain the top sectoral loser, down 1.15%; Infosys and TCS are down 1.4% at Rs 2832 and Rs 866 respectively, while Wipro and Patni are down 1.3%.

Moreover, Auto index is down 0.53%, dragged by Tata Motors, which has slipped 2% to Rs 901, Ashok Leyland down 0.84% to Rs 71.

The prominent losers on the Nifty are Unitech, down 2.1% at Rs 88.6, RCom, down 1.8% at Rs 174, and HDFC, down 1.5% at Rs 3070. On the other hand, the prominent Nifty gainers are JP Associates, up 2.8% at Rs 122 and HUL, up 1.17% at Rs 259.

The market breadth is postive; for 1429 stocks advancing stocks, there are 1367 declines.