Key benchmark indices have turned flat in the morning deals with the Sensex up two points at 18,712 and the Nifty continued to hover around the 5690 mark, losing two points.
Meanwhile, in the broader markets, the smallcap index stepped up with 0.5% gains as compared to the midcap and the Sensex which was flat.
Among the sectoral indices, Oil & Gas, Metal and Auto indices up 0.2-0.5% too gave off some of the morning gains. Realty, Health Care, IT, Capital Goods, FMCG and Bankex indices slipped 0.1-0.4%.
Among individual stocks, Store One Retail India has surged 17% to Rs 39 on back of heavy volumes after reporting two-fold jump in net profit at Rs 10.53 crore for the quarter ended September 2012.
Lupin was up over 1% after HSBC upgraded Lupin to 'overweight' from 'neutral', saying the drug maker's July-September earnings were higher than expected, while shares had under-performed peers over the past three months. HSBC also raised its target price to Rs 650 from Rs 640.
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(Updated at 9:17)
Markets opened flat with a positive bias with the Sensex up 16 points at 18,727 and the Nifty was up two points at 5,693 ahead of the expiry of October futures and options contracts. The ones leading the gains in the opening trades were Reliance Industries, ONGC and HDFC.
In the broader markets, the smallcap index started off with 0.3% gains outperforming the midcap index and the Sensex which started flat with a positive bias.
Asian shares continued to trade mixed on Thursday as signs of recovery in China and the United States eased fears of deteriorating global growth, but sentiment remained vulnerable with weak corporate earnings continuing to undermine investor confidence. The only markets in the red were Shanghai Composite, Taiwan Weighted down 0.1-0.2%
Among the sectoral indices, Metal, Oil & Gas, PSU, Realty, Power, Capital Goods and Auto indices gained 0.1-0.6%. On the other hand, defensives like FMCG and IT were in the red, down 0.2-0.4%.
Sterlite Industries up 2% was the top gainer among the Sensex-30. The stock advanced on reporting a better-than-expected 75% year-on-year jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,743 crore for the quarter ended September 2012 due to forex gain and increase in power sales.
The other gainers were ONGC, BHEL, Hindalco, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC and Bharti Airtel up 1% each. Index heavyweight, Reliance Industries gained 0.6%
On the losing side were Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Cipla down 0.5-0.8%.
The market breadth was positive. 758 stocks advanced while 410 stocks declined on the BSE.
