Even as the broad market remains quite sluggish with stocks from across several sectors swinging between gains and losses amid cautious moves by investors, some counters are witnessing hectic activity, with some corporate news setting the trend.
With industrial output data for February and consumer price inflation data for March due later in the day, investors appear largely reluctant to make significant moves.
The Sensex is down 160 points or 0.54% at 29,628.28, around 85 points off the day's low of 29,549.74. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange is down 44.90 points or 0.49% at 9192.10.
Tech Mahindra, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki, Grasim Industries, State Bank of India, GAIL and Tata Consultancy Services are down 1.3% - 2%.
Bharti Infratel is gaining 2.6%. Eicher Motors is up nearly 2%. Bosch, Hero Motocorp, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, BPCL, ITC and Coal India are up 0.3% - 1%.
Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals (MRPL) rose to Rs 121.60 this morning, its highest in over nine years. Despite coming off that high, the stock remains well placed in positive territory at Rs 117.80, up 4.4% from previous close.
The stock jumped on huge volumes this morning. Till now, around 11.41 lakh shares have changed hands at the MRPL counter today, nearly five times the average daily volume seen at the counter.
On the National Stock Exchange, the MRPL counter has clocked nearly 5 million shares so far in the session.
Petronet LNG (up 2.3% at Rs 432) is also up on impressive volumes. The stock rose to a record high of Rs 441.30 earlier in the session but gave up some gains subsequently on profit taking.
