Markets are trading in a narrow range in the morning deals. The selling pressure visible in the banking space. The 30-share Sensex is down 11 points at 16,694 and the S&P CNX Nifty has shed 6 points at 5,057 levels. The Sensex has traded in a range of 120 points thus far.
Meanwhile, the weakness in the Indian rupee against the dollar has also weighed on the markets. The rupee weakened to 56.07 levels against the US Dollar in the early trades.
The banking stocks continue to face the heat of selling pressure consecutively for the second day. The BSE bankex has slipped 1% or 116 points to 11,104 levels. All the banking stocks are trading lower.
Bank of India is the top loser, down 3% to Rs 330. Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank are also trading weaker by nearly 1-2% each.
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(Updated at 9.30 AM)
Markets have opened on a cautious note in trade today. The Sensex has opened higher by 38 points at 16,743 and the 50-share Nifty has advanced 5 points to open at 5,069 levels.
Meanwhile, the Asian markets were trading on a subdued note. The Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai were down 0.3-0.5% each.
Overnight, the US markets ended higher. The Dow Jones was down 25 points, or 0.20% at 12,742, S&P 500 Index was up 2 points at 1,344.78 and The Nasdaq Composite was up 22 points to end at 2,895.
Back home, post the market hours yesterday, Fitch Ratings has scaled down its credit outlook for India from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’, owing to limited progress on fiscal consolidation and heightened risks to growth, which resulted from the tardy pace of structural reforms.
The rating agency, however, reaffirmed long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings at ‘BBB-’ and the short-term foreign currency rating at ‘F3’. India's country ceiling was also affirmed at ‘BBB-’, Fitch said in a statement on Monday.
Tata Motors is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks in the opening deals. The stocks has opened higher by 1.4% at Rs 241. Sterlite Industries, Cipla, ONGC, Tata Steel, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank have also opened higher by 0.5-1% each. On the other hand, Gail India, Infosys, Dr Reddy's Labs, NTPC, Bajaj Auto and BHEL are among the laggards in the opening trades.
On the sectoral front, all the indices barring IT and power have opened higher. The BSE FMCG index is the top sectoral gainer, up nearly 1% at 4,799 levels. Auto index has also advanced 0.7% to at 9,217 levels. Metal, consumer durables, oil & gas, healthcare and bankex indices have opened higher by 0.2-0.7% each.
The broader markets have opened on a flat note. The BSE small-cap index is up 0.2% at 6,318 and the mid-cap index has opened flat at 5,901 levels.
The overall market breadth is neutral as 624 stocks are advancing while 519 are declining.
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