Markets flat ahead of F&O expiry

Markets are trading flat in noon deals ahead of the F&O expiry later in the day. The Sensex was at 16,312, up 27 points and the Nifty was at 4,883, down 6 points.

According to Ashish Chaturmohta VP( Derivatives & Technical Analyst), IIFL Wealth, "Currently Indian market is trading in a very sensitive zone, where 4,800 currently holds as crucial support and 5,000 as an important resistance, if it breaches on either side, we may see some sharp movement in the market."

On the macro economic front, the food price index rose 9.80% and the fuel price index climbed 13.13% on a weekly basis. The primary articles inflation came in at 12.40%.

Meanwhile, the European markets opened on a positive note. CAC 40 index opened higher by 0.9% at 3,167, FTSE opened at 5,246, higher by 0.7% and the DAX opened at 5,43, higher by 1%.

Back home, Jindal Steel was the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down nearly 3% to Rs 478. It was followed by J P Associates, Tata Steel, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, Coal India, Infosys and State Bank of India. At the same time, ONGC, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Tata Power, DLF and Reliance Industries were among the gainers on the benchmark index.

Most of the sectoral indices were trading in the negative territory. The BSE IT index was the top sectoral loser, down 1.6% to 4,759. Metal, Teck Consumer Durables and Capital Goods indices were also trading lower by over 1% each.  Bankex, Realty and PSU indices were also among the laggards. On the other hand, auto, FMCG and oil indices were trading marginally higher.

Among the IT stocks, MphasiS was the top loser. The stock was trading lower by 4.5% at Rs 378 after it reported 28% year-on-year (y-o-y) drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 195 crore for the third quarter ended July 2011. The company reported a net profit of Rs 271 crore during the May-July quarter last year. HCL Tech, Oracle Financial Services Software, Financial Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, TCS and Wipro.

The broader markets were also trading in the red. The BSE mid-cap index had shed 30 points to 6,198 and the small-cap index was down 33 points to 7,125.

The overall breadth was negative as 1,467 stocks declined while 973 stocks advanced.