Mumbai, India (BBN) – The Sensex and Nifty were trading flat as the quarterly reporting season kicked in, with investors concerned that the government’s move to ban high-value notes would hit corporate earnings.
Investors are also awaiting the annual budget due on February 1, while the country gears up for a slew of state elections, notably in Uttar Pradesh, reports The Hindu Business Line.
At 1:20pm, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 23.83 points or 0.09 per cent at 26,736.16 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 6.25 points or 0.08 per cent at 8,237.55.
Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index gained the most by 1.21 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.48 per cent, auto 0.3 per cent and banking 0.23 per cent.
On the other hand, power index was down 0.94 per cent, healthcare 0.73 per cent, infrastructure 0.61 per cent and oil & gas 0.55 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Maruti (+0.98%), Tata Motors (+0.95%), ITC (+0.95%), Bajaj Auto (+0.91%) and Reliance (+0.69%), while the major losers were Dr Reddy’s (-3.18%), Asian Paints (-1.8%), Power Grid (-1.8%), Coal India (-1.78%) and ONGC (-1.58%).
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian stocks cut early gains as investor caution grew before a news conference by President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, where his views on global trade and China will be carefully scrutinised for future policy implications.
MSCI’s ex-Japan Asia-Pacific shares index was flat on the day, having risen as much as 0.5 per cent after posting a rare loss in the previous session.
Australia’s S&P/ASX200 rose 0.9 per cent, while Hong Kong shares rose 0.2 per cent.
Trading was light because Japan is shut for a holiday.
The caution in Asia is expected to ripple into European markets with futures pointing to a cautious start for various exchanges.
BBN/MS/SK