Markets end flat; Nifty at 8,550

Benchmark indices ended marginally lower amid volatile trading session ahead of expiry of March derivative contracts on Thursday. 

The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended down 3.10 points at 28188.92 and the 50-share Nifty dipped 0.60 points at 8,550.30.

_____________________________
(updated at 3.30 PM)

Markets have once again wiped off all the gains and have turned extremely volatile with Sensex and Nifty making wild swings between negative and positive zone.

At 14:55PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 17 points at 28,209 and the 50-share Nifty was up 9 points at 8,560.


*********************************
Updated at 14:40

Benchmark indices have recovered from the choppy session and are trading firm led by strong buying among index heavyweights HDFC and RIL.

At 14:40PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 193 points at 28,385 and the 50-share Nifty was up 54 points at 8,603.

In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap index, down 0.06% and Smallcap index, down 0.4% have underperformed the front-liners. Market breadth in BSE is negative with 1,592 declines against 1,107 advances.

Markets will remain volatile as traders will unwind positions due to derivative expiry of March contract and fiscal-year profit booking.

The next major trigger for the Indian markets is Q4 results of India Inc. which will start during second week of April, 2015.

Meanwhile, foreign Institutional Investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 417 crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Besides, Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday projected India's economy to grow by 7.8% in 2015-16, compared with 8.1-8.5% pegged by the Economic Survey for 2014-15. However, India's growth projections were much higher than the 7.2% projected for China in the year.

ASIAN MARKETS

Japan's Nikkei share average fell on Tuesday as a weak factory activity survey in China and a drop in U.S. markets weighed on investor confidence, but losses were limited by expectations of better returns for holders of Japanese shares. The Nikkei ended 0.2 percent lower at 19,713.45 points in choppy trade.

European stocks were set for a mixed open on Tuesday after data showed Chinese factory activity unexpectedly skidded to an 11-month low, signalling weakness in the world's second biggest economy.

Investors also awaited PMI data for euro zone countries including Germany and France.

The flash HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dipped to 49.2 in March, below the 50-point level that separates growth from contraction.

SECTORS & BUZZING STOCKS

BSE Healthcare index has surged by almost 2% followed by counters like Oil & Gas, IT, Consumer Durables and TECk, all gaining by 1% each. However, sectors like Realty, Metal and Auto are marginally lower.

HDFC is the top Sensex gainer, up nearly 3%. Bharti Airtel, M&M, Sesa Sterlite, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Wipro and GAIL have gained between 1-3%.

HDFC has fixed March 26, 2015 as the record date for the purpose of payment of Interim Dividend, if approved by the Board. The Board of Directors of the company at its meeting held on March 19, 2015, inter alia, has approved the payment of an interim dividend of Rs. 2 per equity share of face value of Rs. 2 each of the corporation, for the financial year 2014-15.

Bharti Airtel has gained around 3%. According to media reports, Bharti Airtel's joint venture with Vodafone named Firefly Networks is making significant progress towards capturing the largest possible pie of India's fast growing Wifi market.

Sun Pharma is up around 2% after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given its approval to divest seven brands by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Ranbaxy Laboratories to Pune-based Emcure Pharmaceuticals paving the way for the proposed $4-billion merger deal.

NTPC has gained around 2%. The Simhadri Super Thermal Station of NTPC is planning to expand its 2,000 MW power plant at Parawada that comes under Visakhapatnam district in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Dr Reddy's Labs is up over 1% after the company said it has entered into a licencing agreement with Hyderabd-based Hetero Drugs Limited to distribute and market chronic Hepatitis C medicine Sofosbuvir 400 mg under the brand name Resof in India.

From the IT space, Wipro has gained around 2%, TCS is up 0.7% and Infosys has gained over 0.5%. Wipro has launched an independent business unit called Wipro Digital and is looking at acquiring companies, especially in  North America and Europe, in areas such as 'design competency' and 'process utility' to expand its bouquet of services in the digital space.

On the losing side, Hindalco, Hero Moto, HUL, SBI and Tata Steel have declined between 0.6-1.1%.

Most metal shares are trading weak after a private survey showed that China's factory sector declined to 11-month low to 49.2 in March.

Banking shares continued to remain under pressure on the bourses with the Bank Nifty slipping for the fourth straight trading session.

State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank and Punjab National Bank were down 1%-2% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).