Trades In Narrow Range

The Indian markets are trading very flat this morning. The indices have not moved higher despite higher trades seen in the global market. The Sensex is marginally up by 0.03% and Nifty is marginally down by 0.04%, indicating a very flattish move. Among the sectoral indices, Auto, Oil & Gas and Power are in the negative territory as of now, while Consumer Durables, Realty and IT are trading higher.

In the Asian markets, Hang Seng and Nikkei have moved up by 0.24% and 0.21% respectively. The Chinese Index Shanghai Composite has given up its early gains and has turned into the red zone, down 0.36%. According to media reports, this is among the lowest levels seen on the index, which were last seen a decade ago (in July 2000). It seems that the slowdown has shrugged off all the development over the years and it that they are back to square one.

Back home, telecom major Bharti Airtel is among the worst perfomers and the stock is down 1.37% at Rs 305 per share. Auto stocks like Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors are in the negatives. Others like SBI, HDFC, NTPC, BHEL, ITC, etc. are also trading lower in the range of 0.1%-0.9%.

On the flip side, defensive bet Cipla is the leading index gainer, up 2% at Rs 387.40 per share. The Metals pack is are shining at this hour of trade, with stocks like Hindalco, Sterlite Industries, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel up between 0.3%-1.5%.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is strong at this hour. On the BSE, 1020 shares have advanced against 763 shares that have declined and 87 that are unchanged.

We expect the markets to trade in a narrow range for the day.