The Indian markets have opened on a flat note taking cues from overseas bourses, including the US stock market, which closed with losses on Friday. The Sensex is up 43 points at 17,791. Nifty is flat at 5,390.
Given the positive bias, thanks to heavy buying by the foreign institutional investors, the Sensex ended higher for the sixth straight week, up 0.8 per cent at 17,749.
Analysts feel the rally in the market has been too sharp to sustain much longer and investors should utilise the opportunity to book profits. A break of 17,560 could trigger an intermediate correction to at least 16,800-odd levels for the Sensex, technical analysts suggest.
Rate sensitives - BSE bankex and realty indices have dropped into the red. The realty index is down 2% in opening trades at 1,851. Bankex and capital goods indices have slipped 0.4% each.
Meanwhile, the healthcare index has added 0.8% at 6,401. OIl & gas and auto indices have added 0.7% each.
Sun Pharma has gained 2.3% at Rs 554. Coal India, ONGC and Reliance have added over 1% each. From the auto space, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto have advanced 1-2% each.
Meanwhile, DLF has slipped 3% to Rs 223. DLF is under pressure on account of a 45 per cent drop in the December quarter net. The company and its subsidiaries have received an additional tax notice of 1,137 crore for the 2009-10 assessment year. SBI, Bharti Airtel and Wipro have dropped around 1% each in trades.
Among individual stocks, Tata Power has slipped 1.5% to Rs 109 today on reporting a 40.7 per cent drop in consolidated the December quarter net profit.
RIL’s gas output from its flagship K-G-D-6 gas fields may see a further decline till new wells are tied in for production, reports suggest. The stock is up 1% at Rs 851.
