Mumbai, India (BBN) – The Sensex and Nifty were trading flat due to fresh selling in metal, auto, PSU and capital goods stocks amid firm Asian cues.
At 10.18am, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 35.28 points or 0.12 per cent at 28,325.20 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 1.25 points or 0.01 per cent at 8,767.80, reports The Hindu Business Line quoting PTI.
Among BSE sectoral indices, IT index was up 0.69 per cent, followed by consumer durables 0.57 per cent, TECk 0.56 per cent and power 0.39 per cent.
On the other hand, metal index fell the most by 0.99 per cent, auto 0.35 per cent, PSU 0.06 per cent and capital goods 0.05 per cent.
EARLY TRADE
After two sessions of losses, the benchmark Sensex recovered almost 173 points and the NSE Nifty retook the 8,800-mark in early trade today on fresh spell of buying by participants.
Power, bank and auto sector stocks hogged the limelight even as the RBI maintained status quo in its monetary policy review yesterday.
Furthermore, encouraging quarterly earnings by a few more companies and a better trend in other Asian bourses too influenced sentiments.
The 30-share index jumped 172.52 points or 0.61 per cent, to 28,462.44.
The gauge had lost 149.36 points in the previous two sessions.
Also, the NSE Nifty rose 52.35 points or 0.59 per cent to 8,821.40.
Brokers said fresh buying, spread over a broad-front by retail investors and funds amid a firm trend at other Asian bourses mainly influenced the trading sentiment.
Stocks of pharma major Cipla Ltd spurted by Rs. 10.05 cent to Rs. 613 after the company had yesterday reported 43.85 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs. 374.83 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2016.
Shares of Hero MotoCorp rose 0.97 per cent at 3,254.95 despite the company posting a decline of 2.6 per cent in standalone net profit to Rs. 772.05 crore in the October—December quarter, mainly on account of demonetisation.
The rupee too went past its three-month high in early trade today to 66.95 against the dollar.
In the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.21 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.38 per cent in early trade today.
Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.19 per cent.
BBN/SK/AD