Markets open positive but flat

As expected in our morning update, the markets opened in the positive territory today. At present, both the indices are trading flat in the green zone, with the Sensex up 18 points to 17725 and Nifty up by 3 points at 5364. Among the sectors, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Healthcare, etc. are trading in the green zone, while Realty, Capital Goods, Power, etc. are trading in the red.

Other Asian markets are trading in red on the back of speculations that China’s central bank may not ease the rates and will maintain its hawkish stance. Shanghai is down 1.93%, while Hang Seng and Nikkei are down 0.16% and 0.41%.

Back home, Hero MotoCorp is the leading index gainer, up 1.92% to Rs 1998.20. Others like Reliance and TCS are trading higher by 1.50% and 1.03% respectively. Stocks like ICICI Bank, SBI, Infosys, Jindal Steel, ITC, Cipla, etc. are up in the range of 0.05%-0.62%. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel and HUL are the biggest index losers, down 1.69% and 1.66%. After yesterday’s rally, DLF witnessed some profit booking and is down 1.11%.  Auto stocks like Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors are trading down in the range of 0.02%-1.11%. Hindalco, Sun Pharma, ONGC, L&T etc. are trading marginally in the red zone.

Manappuram Finance tanked 15.74% to Rs 47.90, after RBI barred the company and its entity from taking public deposits. Dhanlaxmi Bank surges 1.51% to Rs 57.15, after the MD and CEO of the bank, Amitabh Chaturvedi, tendered his resignation. Gulf Oil Corporation is down 4.29% to Rs 79.25, after the company informed the exchange that it is going to disinvest 100% shares in IDL Explosives.

Other stocks that are going to announce their Q3 FY12 numbers today are VIP Industries, United Breweries, GMR Infra, Mahindra & Mahindra, Astral Poly, Bajaj Corp etc. These stocks could be volatile on the back of their numbers and management guidance.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is strong. On the BSE, 1152 shares rose and 895 shares declined. 88 shares remained unchanged.

We expect the markets to remain volatile for the day.