Markets have recovered from the mid-morning lows, helped by sustained gains in ONGC and a fresh rally in metal stocks. Other Asian indices remain mostly positive while Europe has opened higher.

Sensex is trading lower by 38 points at 13576 at 01.10 PM.

Nifty is now trading lower by 10 points at 3879.

Zee Entertainment, the de-merged entity which would control part of the business of former Zee Tele, has recovered from its lows and is trading nearly 3 per cent lower.

SBI continues to trade more than 2.5 per cent lower and is the worst performer among index stocks. OBC is down more than 2 per cent.

HLL remains weak by nearly 2.5 per cent while Dabur is down 2 per cent.

Jet Airways has come under some selling pressure and is down more than 1.5 per cent.

Sun Pharma is another loser in early afternoon trades, down nearly 2 per cent.

Suzlon remains the worst performer among capital goods stocks, down 2 per cent.

ACC has come off its lows and is down more than 1.5 per cent.

IPCL remains weak by nearly 2 per cent.

ONGC is holding on to its gains of close to 3.5 per cent on reports of a gas find, helping the indices considerably. Gail India has gained over 2 per cent.

Ranbaxy has rallied after a firm start and is the best performer among index stocks with gains of nearly 5 per cent.

Metal stocks are continuing the rally from Friday. SAIL has gained over 3 per cent while Tata Steel is trading more than 2 per cent higher. Nalco has gained close to 1.5 per cent.

Tata Motors has rallied nearly 2.5 per cent on reports of a JV in Thailand to launch pick-up trucks. M&M and Maruti are trading with gains of around a per cent each.

Grasim has gained further and is now trading well over a per cent higher.

Mid-caps and small caps have also come off their lows. The NSE mid-cap index is now trading with losses of close to 0.8 per cent. BSE mid-cap index is trading with losses of nearly 0.5 per cent and the BSE small-cap index has recovered to gains of more than 0.15 per cent. Market breadth on the NSE remains negative with nearly 2 stocks declining for every advancing stock.

Select mid-cap IT and IT education stocks are holding on to their gains. Educomp, Sonata and Teledata are locked in the 10 per cent upper circuits. RS Software and Vishesh Info have added around 9.5 per cent each.

Flex Industries, Global Vectra and Vivimed Labs are locked in the 10 per cent upper circuits.

Goldstone Technologies, which had surged 80 per cent last week, has added another 9 per cent today.

LT Overseas has had a weak listing today. Issued at Rs56 per share, the stock opened at Rs60 on the NSE and declined to a low of Rs51.25. The stock is now trading at Rs52.

Simbhaoli Sugar, Concor, Madhucon Projects, UTV, Shree Cement, Sanwaria Agro, DCM and Malu Paper are the major mid-cap losers.