Markets witness lacklustre trades

The markets began Thursday's trading session on a flat note owing to a fall in the Asian markets. The BSE Sensex is at 17044, down 21 points and the S&P CNX Nifty is at 5,120, down five points.

The US markets rallied overnight and maintained the momentum through out the trading session as concerns over Europe's debt crisis eased. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 276 points at 11,415. The S&P 500 closed at 1,199, adding 33 points, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 75 points at 2,549. Indian stocks listed on the Nasdaq reflected the firm trades witnessed on the US bourses. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Wipro and Infosys were up nearly 3-4% each.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets opened higher with most indices gaining nearly a percent each. However, some of the indices went on to pare part of their gains. The Hang Seng index has shed 0.7% at 19,900 and the Shanghai Composite index had shed 0.1% at 2,513.The Nikkei is at 3,312, up 0.7%.

On Wednesday, the Foreign Institutional Investors were net buyers of Rs 262 crore in cash and the Domestic Institutional Investors were net sellers of Rs 81 crore.

In the derivatives segment, FIIs were net buyers of 849 crore. They were net buyers of 282 crore in the index futures and Rs 145 crore in index options. They also bought shares worth Rs 459 crore in the stock futures and sold Rs 37 crore in stock options.

The markets are likely to react to the US President's speech due later today.The President is expected to highlight ways to boost hiring. Also due today is the Federal reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech in Minnesota, where he is likely to lay out ways in which the US central bank is to revive the economy.

Commenting on the markets back home, Ashish Chaturmohta, IIFL Private Wealth said, "The Nifty futures, yesterday, closed near their 1st resistance of 5120 levels, now it caps 5240 as its next crucial resistance, sustaining above which can test 5320-5330 levels on upside. On the downside, 5080 caps as an immediate support below which it can move towards 5020-5000 levels."

Wipro has moved up 4% at Rs 342. Other prominent gainers include Infosys, TCS, Sun Pharma and Cipla, up 2-3% each.

The top losers among the Sensex 30 stocks include JP Associates, Bajaj Auto, Jindal Steel, Reliance Inds and HDFC Bank, down 1-2% each. Wipro, Patni Computer Systems, Infosys and Mphasis, up 3-4% each, are the top gainers from the IT pack.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE IT and TECk indices are leading the gains, up 2-3% each. The laggards among the indices are BSE Oil & Gas, Metal and FMCG, down 0.1-0.4% each.

The overall market breadth is positive as 1,453 stocks have advanced against 672 declining ones.