Markets trading flat after yesterday's gains

The Indian markets opened on a flat positive note after witnessing a strong upward movement in the previous session. However, both the indices turned negative later, down 0.20% and 0.43% respectively, as investors booked some of the profits gained yesterday.

In the other Asian markets, the Nikkei is trading in the green zone following a pick up in China's manufacturing activity, which boosted investor sentiment across the region. However, the Hang Seng and Shanghai are marginally down after having a positive session yesterday.

The European markets closed at a 5-month high yesterday, with strong manufacturing data from the US and China boosting investor confidence.

Back home, among the BSE sectoral indices, Consumer Durables, PSU and Consumer Goods are leading with gains of almost 1.5%. Other indices such as Metals, Pharma, Power, Bankex, Realty, IT and FMCG are up with gains under 1%. However, Auto, Teck and Oil & Gas are marginally down between 0.03%-0.5% each.

Of the Sensex shares, BHEL, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank are leading the index with gains of 3.37%, 2.11% and 2.16% respectively. On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, HUL, M&M and Tata Power are down between 1-2% each.

Adani Power is up with 2% gains after the company was shortlisted to develop 4 projects worth Rs 19000 cr of a total capacity of 3792 MW in South Africa.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is positive. On the BSE, 1371 shares rose and 571 shares fell. 88 shares remained unchanged.

We expect the markets to remain volatile for the day and the European markets to provide some vital cues on the desired direction of the market trend in the late afternoon session.