Sensex Opens Flat; Sideways Movement Likely

MUMBAI: Stocks opened flat on Thursday tracking mixed global cues and as domestic concerns continued to weigh on sentiment. At 10:05 am, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was up 83 points or 0.53 per cent at 15,833.42.

Biggest Sensex gainers were HDFC Bank (down 2.18%), Tata Motors (1.44%), DLF (1%), BHEL (0.84%) and Reliance Industries (0.7%).

State Bank of India (down 3.18%), NTPC (1.06%), Satyam Computer (0.75%) and ICICI Bank (0.54%) were the losers.

Market breadth on BSE showed 388 advances and 259 declines.

The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was up 34 points or 0.71 per cent at 4787.80.

“The market is likely to witness sideways movement. Overnight weakness in the US indices and mixed Asian markets in morning trades may further dampen the investors' sentiment. On the technical side, the Nifty faces stiff resistance at 4900 while support comes at 4640. The Sensex could test higher levels of 15930 and has a likely support at 15530,” said a local brokerage in a note.

Asian stocks rose, led by commodity-related companies, after copper and oil prices gained and UBS AG said Posco will boost profit. Toshiba climbed after saying it's in talks to build nuclear reactors in the US. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.92 per cent, the Hang Seng added 1.16 per cent and the Straits Times climbed 0.96 per cent.

US stocks slumped on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged a possible recession in testifying to Capitol Hill. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.38 per cent. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.19 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.06 per cent.

Market Opens Flat.

The market today opens flat after a sharp deep red ending yesterday. The cues from the global markets are not too bad today as the Asian markets are trading mixed and the US market has closed flat. The significant selling pressure witnessed in the broader market today, as a result the Mid Cap and Small Cap are trading lower. The heavy seling is seen in the Capital Goods and Realty stocks. However, the buying in the Metal and Oil & Gas stocks have provided some support to the market.

The market will remain closed from 11:45 IST to 12:25 IST due to sun outage. Trading time has been extended till 16:15 IST. The changes in timings will be applicable from today to 18 March 2008.

The overall market breadth is negative as 654 stocks are advancing whereas 1,208 stocks are declining on BSE.

At 10.32AM, the BSE Sensex was up by 39 points at 16,717 and the Nifty was up by 8.85 points to 4,961.85.The BSE Mid Cap decreased by 22 points to 7,343 and the BSE Small Cap slipped by 95 points to 9,143.

ITC reported the top gainer from the BSE Sensex pack. It was up by (1.76%) at Rs.205.55 while Wipro reported the top loser declined by (2.12%) at Rs.437.

BSE Metal index advanced by 84.59 points to trade at 15,883.46. The top gainers are Sesa Goa inclined by (1.72%) to Rs.3,390, SAIL increased by (1%) at Rs.233.10 followed by Sterlite Industries and Jindal Steel up by (0.97%) and (0.55%) to Rs.791 and Rs.2,150 respectively.

BSE Capital Goods index slipped by 147.54 points to trade at 15,035.09. The major losers are L&T, BHEL, BEML and Punj Lloyd fell by (2.21%), (1.78%), (0.91%) and (0.59%) to Rs.3,270, Rs.2,062, Rs.1,142.85 and Rs.355 respectively.

SAIL advanced by (1.30%) to Rs.234. The company has signed a shareholder''s agreement with Jaypee Associates Limited (JAL) to form a joint venture company called Bokaro Jaypee Cement Limited (BJCL), for setting up a 2.1 million tonne capacity cement plant at Bokaro.