Markets flat on monsoon worries, realty stocks weak

The markets are trading on a flat note with a negative bias. The Sensex is five points at 17,556 and the Nifty is up five points at 5,281 mainly on the back of news of monsoon being below expectations, as per the IMD forecast for the month of July.

The Nifty had opened up 30 points, at 5,303 and Sensex gained 92 points at 17,643 in opening deals. But, markets gave up most of the opening gains soon after opening.

Reliance Industries (down almost 1%) and TCS (down over 1%) pulled down Sensex by over 10 points each. SBI, Jindal Steel, HDFC Bank, HDFC and Bharti Airtel, each down 0.5-1.5%, led to Sensex losing around five points each. Heavyweights like Infosys, ITC and L&T contributed around 10 points each, stocks are up around 1% each.

Some of the notable losers on Nifty are HCL Tech, Reliance Infra, SAIL, Dr Reddy’s, Ranbaxy, Maruti, each down up to 1%.

A report by HDFC Securities says, “Support on Nifty is at 5,250 while resistance is at 5,350. Among the sectors, metal and telecom stocks could do well today.”

Most sectoral indices have shed their gains in early trade. Realty index continued to be weak for a second day, down nearly 1%. Anant Raj shed the most, down 3%, followed by Indiabulls Real Estate, Phoenix Mills, Peninsula Land, Unitech, all down over 1%.

Oil & Gas and metal indices are the other losers, down up to 0.25%. RIL is the biggest laggard in the oil & gas space, followed by ONGC (down 0.5%), which has been weak for last two days after the follow-on offer announcement. Jindal stocks (Jindal Steel and Jindal Saw), SAIL, Bhushan Steel, Welspun Corp are all down over 1%.

Broader markets are also lower. CNX Midcap Index is down 12 points and BSE Small Cap index is down 8 points. Market breadth is negative with 973 stocks advancing as against 1,134 stocks declining.

Others like Wockhardt has gained after US FDA approved its anti-bacterial tablets. New listing Timbor Home is Rs 80.80, after listing at Rs 72 against an issue price of Rs 63. The stock touched a high of Rs 84, soon after listing. S Kumars, which fell 15 per cent in the last hour of trade yesterday, has recovered and is up 2.5%.

Tata Motors has moved the Kolkata High Court in the Singur land case and that stock is down 0.5%.