Sensex ends flat; banks, realty cool heels ahead of expiry

Key equity benchmarks ended flat ahead of Thursday's derivatives expiry. Also, investors chose to stay out as the market will remain shut tomorrow on account of Mahavir Jayanti.

But traders maintain their cautious stance primarily due to the F&O expiry and RBI's monetary policy scheduled on May 3.

Selling pressure was seen in capital goods, realty and banking stocks. Pharma, IT and oil&ags stocks were on buyer's radar.

The Sensex closed at 19179 up 9 points and the Nifty ended at 5836 up 2.5 points.

Asian markets also ended on a weak note. Chinese markets saw 2 percent plus cuts after the April HSBC PMI reading came in below estimates at 50.5, renewing fears of a slowdown.

The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) projected the economy to grow at 6.4 percent in FY14. He also said FY14 current account deficit (CAD) is expected to narrow down to 4.7 percent (from 5.1 percent in FY13) when the pace of exports pick up.

Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra and Jaiprakash Associates were top gainers on the Nifty. Jindal Steel, DLF, Larsen, IDFC and SBI were top losers.

In the broader markets, Indiabulls Real, National Fertilisers, Kirloskar Oil, Birla Corp, Amara Raja Batteries, Kesoram, Garware Poly, Bhansali Engineering, Mastek and Vesuvius India ended with hefty gains.

HDFC Bank continued to maintain its pace of growth. It reported 30 percent year-on-year rise in its fourth quarter (January-March) net profit at about Rs 1,890 crore, aided by robust interest and other income. Net interest income or the difference between interest earned and paid rose forecast beating nearly 21 percent to Rs 4,300 crore during the quarter. The stock ended in red.

Reliance Industries' telecommunications arm ties up with Bharti Airtel to use its submarine cable network to provide data connectivity across Asia Pacific.

Morgan Stanley upgrades Reliance Infrastructure  to "overweight" from "equal weight" and raised its target price to Rs 576 from Rs 489, citing favourable risk reward as price-to-book valuation multiples are at all-time lows.

The market has drifted lower as trading continued to be volatile. Even assurance of C Rangarajan, chairman, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) that the economy is likely to grow at 6.4 percent in FY14 failed to enthuse the investors.

The Nifty was struggling close to 5800 pulled lower by banks and capital goods. The Sensex was up 15.41 points at 19185.24, and the Nifty gained  2.30 points to be at 5836.70.

Smallcaps, technology and pharma stocks were lending support to the indices. Hero Motocorp, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, Reliance and Dr Reddy's Lab were the big gainers in the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Jindal Steel, SBI, L&T and Tata Motors dragged during the day. HDFC Bank dropped 1 percent despite reporting a 30 percent increment in its net profit in the fourth quarter compared to the same period previous year.

Other big losers of the day were Sintex (down 3.1 percent and Jain Irrigation (down 2.3 percent).  Engineers India fell 2.8 percent as the government is looking to divest 10 percent in the company via the follow-on-public offer.

The Nifty is taking a breather in trade today after rallying close to 300 points in last five trading sessions. Banking heavyweights like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI are seeing huge unwinding of long positions today. Banking stocks have rallied more than 10 percent and traders are now booking profits.

Equity benchmark indices are volatile on account of expiry of April series on Thursday. The market will remain shut tomorrow for Mahavir Jayanti.

Globally, it's negative across Asia with the Chinese markets seeing 2 percent plus cuts after the April HSBC PMI reading came in below estimates at 50.5, renewing fears of a slowdown. European markets kick off trade on a positive note.

The Sensex is down 78 points at 19091 and the Nifty is down 26 points at 5807.

Jaiprakash Associates, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries, NMDC and HCL Tech are top gainers in the Nifty. IndusInd Bank, IDFC, Bank of Baroda, Jindal Steel and SBI are top losers.

HDFC Bank will report numbers today. CNBC-TV18 poll sees a 17% growth in net interest income. Profits are expected to clock in 30 percent gains to Rs 1890 crore year on year. Margins will either be stable or moderate by 10 basis points sequentially. The asset quality will be closely watched.

Transformers & Rectifiers is up 6.5 percent after the company bags Rs 296 crore order from Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation Limited.

Mahindra Life is up 3 percent after reports indicate the company plans to close 4-5 land acquisitions soon and has signed 8 MOU's for land procurement so far.

Educomp is up 1 percent as the company forms a committee to evaluate options to restructure smart class business.

The Nifty broke 5800 mark on the downside after Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council's chairman, C Rangarajan said India's GDP is likely to grow at 6.4 percent in FY14. He sees India's current account deficit at 4.7 percent of GDP in FY14.

The panel also said the economy probably grew at 5 percent in the fiscal year 2012-13, its slowest pace in a decade.

The Sensex was down 81 points at 19089, and the Nifty was down 29 points at 5805.

Rate sensitive sectors - banks and autos were on sellers' radar today. The Bank Nifty which rallied more than 12 percent in this series, was dragged lower by profit booking today. IndusInd Bank and SBI were down 2 percent each.

The mood across the market was cautious ahead of the derivatives expiry on Thursday and central bank's annual policy on May 3.

Technology shares, which were hammered after disappointing results and guidance, saw some buying interest. HCL Technologies was up 1.5 percent.

The rupee was at one-week low, trading at 54.36/37, the lowest since April 16, versus the previous close of 54.14/15. Dollar demand from gold, oil importers sustaining for the last 2-3 days, the dealer adds.

Jaiprakash Associates, Bajaj Auto, HCL Tech, Reliance Industries and Tata Steel top gainers on the Nifty. IndusInd Bank, Bank of Baroda, Larsen, BHEL and Jindal Steel are top losers.

Shares in Reliance Communications Ltd fell as much as 5 percent after Reliance Industries Ltd's telecom unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm, and Bharti Airtel Ltd entered into an agreement for international data connectivity.

The market has not moved much in the early trading session. The Sensex was down 45.82 points at 19124.01, and the Nifty fell 19.50 points to be at 5814.90.

Big gainers of Monday banking and capital goods were under some selling pressure today, while metals still continued to woo investors. Technology stocks too regained some investors' confidence.

Hero Motocorp, Sterlite, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto and Tata Steel were leading the Sensex.

Educomp was up 3.5 percent after the company approved formation of a committee to mull recast of its smart class operations business.

Mahindra Lifespace also gained 3 percent as reports indicated that the company is planning to close 4-5 land acquisitions soon and has signed eight memorandum-of-understandings (MoU's) for land procurement.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors, L&T, SBI, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel were the key losers.

Persistent Systems lost 2 percent even after fourth reporting earnings were largely inline with estimates. Its dollar revenue rose 2 percent to USD 62 million while profits rose to nearly Rs 52 crore.

Benchmark indices opened slightly down Tuesday, as investors are awaiting fresh triggers before firming up their view. The Sensex has gained nearly 1000 points in the last six sessions, and brokers said some amount of profit booking was inevitable.

The BSE Sensex was down 32 points at 19137, and the Nifty was down 15 points at 5819.

Shares of IT and metal companies were firm, while those from the banking, capital goods and FMCG sectors were sluggish.

Jet Air, Muthoot Finance, M&M Financial Services and MCX were among the key gainers in early trade, up between 2-3 percent.

Among laggards, Bharti Infratel, Eicher Motors, IndusInd Bank, Tata Communications and Unitech were down between 2-3 percent.

Jitendra Sriram of HSBC feels foreign institutional investors will wait for further cues before increasing their exposure to India. Dalton Capital head UR Bhat's is also of the similar view that FIIs were unlikely to increase their fund allocation to emerging markets like India.

HSBC expects the Sensex around 20,700 at the end of this calendar. Bhat sees the Nifty trading in the 5500-5900 band near term.