Markets Stressed Ahead Of Expiry, Auto Down By 1%

The Indian markets continued to trade weak as the Nifty is stressed in a tight range of 20-30 points in today’s trading session. In the afternoon trading session at 01:00 PM, Nifty is trading at 5632, down by 9 points and Sensex is trading at 18,675, down by 30 points. Both the indices are trading lower in the range of 0.16%-0.17%.

The breadth of the market has also improved in the afternoon session. On the NSE, 711 shares are trading in green and 667 shares are trading in green. 

Top 5 Gainers on NSE: ONGC is leading today gainers’ list while trading with gains of 3.25%, and is followed by Hindalco Industries, Sesa Goa, GAIL and IDFC.

Top 5 Losers on NSE: Hero MotoCorp is among the top losers on NSE, trading lower by 2.93%, followed by DLF, Cairn India, Tata Motors and Jindal Steel and Power. 

On the sectoral front, Metals, PSU and Health Care are trading in a positive zone. Auto, Realty and Bankex are trading in a negative zone. 

On the global front, Asian stocks fell in today’s trading session. China’s Shanghai Composite is trading lower by 2.90%, followed by Japan’s Nikkei 225 trading lower by 1.28% and Hang Seng trading lower by 0.94%. 

Buzzers: Aurobindo Pharma has gained more than 8%, trading at Rs 141.5 after the pharmaceutical company said that the US Food and Drug Administration’s (USFDA) has lifted the import alert for non-sterile products manufactured in its UNIT-6 cephalosporin facility based in Hyderabad.  

Apollo Hospitals Enterprises has surged by over 4% to Rs 835 on reports that the company is in the advance stage of acquiring a Chennai-based lifeline hospital. The stock has gained over heavy volumes. 

The markets will be volatile as today is the March Series Derivatives Expiry. Nifty has a strong support around the levels of 5600-5610.