Markets flat in morning deals

Bharti Airtel top gainer among the Sensex stocks

Markets are trading on a flat note in the morning deals. The Sensex has advanced 54 points to 18,765 and the 50-share Nifty is up 15 points at 5,702.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. The stocks has advanced 1.5% to Rs 267. Maruti Suzuki, TCS, HDFC, Tata Power and Mahindra & Mahindra are also among the gainers.

On the other hand, Tata Motors has slipped 2% to Rs 264 after the company’s global vehicle sales, including that of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), decline by 4.5% at 103,656 vehicles in September from the year-ago period. The country’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer had sold 108,570 vehicles in the same month of previous year.

Gail India, HUL, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco and HDFC Bank are among the losers.

Among the individual stocks, Axis Bank is trading higher by over 3% to Rs 1,153 levels on reporting a better-than-expected 22% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 1,124 crore for the second quarter ended September, 2012. The performance comes on the back of growth in interest and fee income, as well as lower expenses. Analyst on an average expected profit of Rs 1,116 crore from the private sector bank.
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(Updated at 9.20 AM)

Markets have opened marginally higher tracking subdued global cues. The gains are capped due to a mild selling pressure visible in some heavyweights such as Tata Motors, HUL and HDFC Bank. The Sensex has advanced 65 points at 18,778 and the 50-share Nifty has advanced 18 points at 5,705.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets are trading higher. The Hang Seng has advanced 64 points to 21,212, Shanghai Composite was up 11 points at 2,110 and Japan's Nikkei was up 81 points at 8,658 as index heavyweight Softbank Corp rallied after the company confirmed a $20 billion acquisition of a U.S. competitor with a loan from four banks that also benefited from the news.

Overnight, the US stocks climbed on Monday, rebounding from last week's losses after Citigroup's earnings and retail sales sharply exceeded expectations.

Citigroup Inc shares shot up 5.5 percent to $36.66 and gave the biggest lift to the S&P 500 a fter the third-largest U.S. bank reported quarterly adjusted earnings that surged from the year-ago quarter and beat expectations. The growth came as mortgage lending increased and capital markets results rebounded.

The Dow Jones rose 95 points, or 0.72 to 13,424, S&P 500 Index gained 11 points to finish at 1,440 and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 20 points to close at 3,064.

Back home, index heavyweight Reliance Industries has opened higher by 1% at Rs 832 after the company on Monday reported a 5.7% decline in its second quarter net profit but met street estimates on improved refining margins and higher treasury gains.

Net profit was Rs 5,376 crore for the quarter ended September 2012 against Rs 5,703 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. Though the gross refining margin was lower at $9.5 per barrel for the quarter against $10.1 a year ago, it was impressive compared to the previous quarter’s $7.6 per barrel.

From the private banking space, Axis bank has opened higher by 3% at Rs 1,150 after the bank reported 22% increase in net profit at Rs 1,123.54 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 on the back of lower expenses.

The bank had a net profit of Rs 920.32 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal, Axis Bank said in a statement.

BHEL, Wipro, TCS, SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Tata Power, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro and NTPC have also opened higher by 0.6-1% each.

On the othe hand, Tata Motors is the top loser from the heavyweight space. It has opened weaker by 1.4% at Rs 265 after it reported weaker than expected Jaguar-Land Rover sales numbers. Gail India, HUL, HDFC Bank and Cipla are also aonmg the losers.

All the sectoral indices are trading higher. The BSE realty index is the top gainer, up 1% at 1,897. Oil & gas, capital goods, power, consumer durables, teck, PSU and T indices have also opened higher by 0.6-0.8% each.

The broader markets are in-line with thebenchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices are up 0.4% each.

The overall breadth is positive as 945 stocks are advancing while 401 are declining.