Sensex closes flat; Bharti, Sun Pharma top buy list

Indian shares closed flat after moving in a narrow range throughout the session on Monday. The rally of 400 points in previous two sessions indicated that the market already priced in the news of ECB's new unlimited bond buying programme. Now investors awaited for major events - locally one is inflation for August on Friday and another is industrial output for July, which will decide the move of RBI in its policy meet that scheduled for September 17.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 17.13 points to close at 17,766.78. Meanwhile, the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 4.75 points to 5,363.45.

Asian and European markets too were lacklustre in trade today ahead of major events this week - Federal Reserve policy meet on September 12-13 and German's Constitutional Court ruling (that decides on the legality of the ESM) on Wednesday.

Expectations mounted for another economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve after disappointed employment report, but the markets are still not sure about the stimulus. Other events are Dutch elections and the troika meet in Greece.

Back home, telecom operator Bharti Airtel shot up 2.3 and drug producer Sun Pharma gained 2.6%.

Housing finance company HDFC, aluminium major Hindalco Industries, two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto and top commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors were up more than 1%.

Tata Steel, the world's sixth largest steel producer and Coal India, country's largest coal mining company moved up over 1.6%.

Software services exporter Infosys bounced back again in late trade, rising 0.6%. The company has bought Zurich-based Lodestone Holding AG for 330 million Swiss franc today.

India's largest lender State Bank of India tanked 1.8% while its rival ICICI Bank was down 0.7%. State-owned power equipment manufacturer BHEL tumbled 2% on concerns over its order book.

Shares of Jindal Steel lost more than 2%. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries, top IT services exporter TCS and FMCG major Hindustan Unilever were down 0.5-0.9%.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks; the BSE Midcap Index was up 0.3% and Smallcap rose 0.7%.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by 1481 to 1292 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

US stock market indices may be performing better than India's popular benchmark Sensex, but individual Indian stocks have outshined their own American Depositary Receipts by up to 25% in the past one year.

Amid a gloomy economic scenario, IT major Infosys's Nasdaq-listed ADRs (American Depository Receipts) have moved down by around 9% to USD 45.66 in the past one-year period, but its Indian shares have gained around 7% to Rs 2,495.90 on the BSE in the same time.

ADRs of Infosys' rival Wipro has shown a similar trend and the US investors of the Bangalore-headquartered IT firm have lost nearly 12% in the past 12 months. However, the shares of Azim Premji-led firm on Indian stock exchanges have risen by nearly 25% to Rs 381 apiece.

ADRs are securities that represent shares of a non-US company and trade on the US bourses like NYSE and Nasdaq.

Beyond IT sector, Pharma major Dr Reddy's ADRs shed 3.5% in the past one year but prices of its BSE-listed shares have risen about 17% in the same period.

In case of banks, the country's top private lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have seen local shares outshine their respective ADRs by 15-17% in the past 12 months.

Experts say that this trend is a reversal-like scenario from the the situation seen in 2010. At that time, ADRs trumped underlying Indian shares by 20% but now Indian shares are underperforming their ADRs.

ADRs usually trade at a discount to the underlying shares because of lack of liquidity in the ADR market. However, in a bearish market, this discount could widen and this may result in the ADR depreciating more than the underlying shares.

In telecommunications space, ADRs of MTNL lost over 15% in the one-year period ending September 7, 2012, but its shares traded in India have gained around 3%.

Tata Communications ADRs have lost around 6% but its Indian shares have jumped 11% in this period.

The gains are more pronounced in the share performance of Tata Motors . While ADR prices of India's leading automobile firm have risen by 33%, its shares traded on BSE have galloped by 55% in the same period.

The price gap between ADRs and local shares is often exploited by international hedge funds that take positions in both ADRs as well as underlying shares. The lower liquidity of ADRs leads to even smaller purchases or sales resulting in big price swings, said a merchant banker.

The ADRs of Vedanta group firm Sterlite Industries have lost 38% of value but its India-traded shares have fallen by a much lower 29% in the past one year.

All the gains or losses in both ADRs and shares are indicative in nature and exclude dividend income, transaction costs and applicable taxes, etc.

Key benchmarks were consolidating around their previous closing values ahead of major economic events this week. Inflation for August and industrial output for July will be announced this week, which are key events before the RBI policy that scheduled for September 17.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 1.13 points to 17,750.78 while the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 2.5 points to 5,356.25.

Country's largest lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank were down 1.66% and 1.3%, respectively.

Shares of Jindal Steel and state-run power equipment manufacturer BHEL topped the selling list with 2% losses.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries and top software services exporter TCS fell 0.7% and 0.4%, respectively.

Housing finance company HDFC and aluminium major Hindalco Industries gained more than 1%.

World's sixth largest steel producer Tata Steel and country's largest coal mining company Coal Index were up 1.7% each.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and commercial vehicle major Tata Motors rose 0.5% each. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel and drug producer Sun Pharma rallied more than 2%.

European shares edged lower in morning trading on Monday ahead of a week of decisive political events in Europe and the Federal Reserve's key meeting this week. (With inputs from CNBC.com).

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were completely listless in trade as investors eagerly awaited major events like inflation, industrial output data, Federal Reserve's policy meet and German's Constitutional Court ruling before taking any decision on the market.

The BSE benchmark moved up 25.60 points to 17,775.25 and the NSE benchmark rose 7 points to 5,365.65. European markets too were flat ahead of major events this week.

Country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel, drug producer Sun Pharma and world's sixth largest steel making company Tata Steel topped the buying list today with 2% gains.

Housing finance company HDFC gained 1%. Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro rebounded with 0.7% gains while state-run power equipment manufacturer BHEL tanked 2% after brokerages raised concerns over its order book.

Aluminium major Hindalco Industries and country's largest coal mining company Coal India were up 1.8% each.

Auto stocks like Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra moved up 0.4-1.4% while Tata Motors was flat.

Shares of ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, TCS, State Bank of India, Wipro and Hindustan Unilever were down 0.4-0.9%. Drug producer Cipla reversed its losses on profit booking; the stock fell 2%.

Indian equity benchmarks remained flat since early trade as the gains in HDFC, HDFC Bank, Bharti and metals stocks counterbalanced the fall in ICICI Bank, L&T, SBI, TCS and Reliance Industries.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 8.5 points to 17,758.14 and the 50-share NSE Nifty went up 3.2 points to 5,361.90 while the BSE Midcap Index was up 0.4% and Smallcap Index moved up 0.6%.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank dropped 0.7% while its rival State Bank of India fell 1.15%. However, HDFC Bank and HDFC gained 0.6% and 1.4%, respectively.

Software services exporter Infosys reversed its early gains; its rivals TCS and Wipro were down more than 0.6%.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries, engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and commercial vehicle major Tata Motors were marginally down.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever declined 1%. Shares of Jindal Steel and BHEL tanked 1.5% each.

Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel extended gains to 1.8%. Drug producer Sun Pharma topped the buying list with 2% gains.

Among metals and mining stocks, Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries and Coal India gained more than 1.5%. State-owned ONGC and GAIL rose over 0.5%.

In the second line shares, Jyothy Labs, Jubilant Life, Muthoot Finance, Shree Global and Pantaloon Retail rallied 5-10% whereas National Fertilisers, Prism Cement, Allcargo, Elantas Beck and HT Media slipped 2.4-3%.

The 50-share NSE Nifty was moving in a narrow range around 5360 level after priced in the news of European Central Bank's new unlimited bond buying programme, which resulted a rally of more than 100 points in previous two sessions. Now investors awaited the decision on fuel price hike along with inflation and industrial output data this week.

Jitendra Sriram, MD & Head of Research, HSBC India says both these things again are going to dictate sentiment for the local bourses as well then. Index of Industrial Production (IIP) will be announced on Wednesday and inflation on Friday, which are very important data points ahead of RBI policy that scheduled for September 17.

The BSE benchmark moved up 10 points to 17,759.80 and the NSE benchmark gained 2 points at 5,360.60. But the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with 0.4% gains as advancers outnumbered decliners by 1242 to 817 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Country's second largest software services provider Infosys rose 0.5% after the company bought Zurich-based Lodestone Holding AG for 330 million Swiss franc. However, its rivals Wipro and TCS fell 1% and 0.44%, respectively.

Housing finance company HDFC and private sector lender HDFC Bank gained 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively. Top lender State Bank of India was down 1% while its rival ICICI Bank fell 0.4%.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel, drug producer Sun Pharma, coal mining major Coal India, steel producer Tata Steel and aluminium major Hindalco were up more than 1%.

Cipla added on more gains today as the company won patent case against Roche last week. The stock rose over 1% today after rising more than 2% on Saturday.

Among auto stocks, top car maker Maruti Suzuki was up 0.6% while commercial vehicle major Tata Motors declined 0.6%. India's largest two-wheeler makers Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto were up 0.7-1%.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro was down 0.4% and state-run power equipment manufacturer BHEL fell 1.4%.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries declined 0.3% and FMCG major Hindustan Unilever went down 1%.

Indian equity benchmarks started off Monday trade on a flat note as investors awaited big events this week. Industrial output data on Wednesday and Inflation on Friday, which are very important ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy that scheduled for September 17 (Monday).

On the global front, investors will closely watch Federal Reserve's policy meeting that will be held for two days (September 12-13) and German's Constitutional Court rulling on ESM on Wednesday, which is very important for Eurozone after the ECB chairman Mario Draghi's new unlimited bond buying programme.

Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex moved up 26 points to 17,775.47 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 5 points to 5,363.70.

Infosys rose 1% as the company bought Zurich-based Lodestone Holding AG for swiss franc.

Metals stocks like SAIL, Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries and Sesa Goa gained 0.5-1%.

Healthcare stocks like Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla and Sun Pharma were up nearly 1%.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up 0.5%. ONGC moved up 0.5% as its subsidiary ONGC Videsh (OVL) bought Hess Corp's stake in Azeri oil fields for USD 1 billion.

JSPL dropped more than 3%. Reliance Communications, HUL, TCS and Larsen & Toubro were under pressure in early trade.

The CNX Midcap Index advanced 18 points to 7,257 as about two shares advanced for every share declined on the National Stock Exchange.

In the second line shares, Deccan Chronicle was up 1.4% as the company will seek debt recast of Rs 3000 crore.

ITI tanked 4.6% on profit booking after rising 10% on Saturaday due to revival plan.

Aurobindo Pharma surged 3%. Jubilant Life and Wockhardt were up 1% each.

ARSS Infra shot up 13%. Pantaloon Retail gained 2.4% as Peter England (a part of Aditya Birla Group) board has approved demerger of Pantaloon format business.

Reliance Capital was up 1% ahead of decision over interim dividend pay-out.

Adani Power and Kingfisher Airlines went down 2%.