 "Nifty facing resistance above 8,600; ICICI Bank up 3%")
Benchmark share indices continued to trade flat after gains in select private banks helped capped further downside.
At 10:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 27 points at 27,700 and the Nifty50 was down 8 points 8,576. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were 0.1%-0.5% each. Market breadth was positive with 1462 gainers and 809 losers on the BSE.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities worth Rs 946 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
ICICI Bank extended gains and was up 5% after the Essar group on Saturday signed a binding agreement with Russia’s Rosneft, United Capital Partners and Trafigura Group Pte. to sell 98% in its most priced asset, the 20 million tonnes per annum Vadinar refinery and Vadinar port in Gujarat.
According to Business Standard report, the proceeds of the sale will be used to repay loans of both foreign and local lenders, which was around Rs 88,000 crore, Ruia said. Axis Bank which is also a lender to the Essar Group was up nearly 2%.
Infosys was up 0.7% on renewed buying interest at lower levels.
Among others, Fortis Healthcare has surged 11% to Rs 188 on the BSE in early morning trade after the company on Saturday said it has completed the acquisition of 51% stake in Fortis Hospotel Ltd and acquired compulsorily convertible preference shares issued by Escort Heart Institute and Research Centre Ltd.
(Updated at 9:30am)
Markets opened flat on Monday, amid mixed cues from Asia, with ICICI Bank, one of the major lenders to the Essar Group, emerging as the top gainer.
At 9:30am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 41 points at 27,715 and the Nifty50 was down 3 points 8,581 after hitting 8,600 in early trades.
ICICI Bank is among the top gainer up over 3% after the Essar Group recently sold 98% stake in its oil entity and related infrastructure. On Saturday, the group sold its stake in Essar Oil, the Vadinar (Guajarat) terminal and power assets to Russian oil major Rosneft, commodity trading firm Trafigura and Russian investment fund United Capital Partners. Axis Bank was also up 0.6%.
Infosys was up 0.5% on renewed buying interest at lower levels after the correction post the earnings announcment on Friday last week.
Other gainers include, SBI, NTPC, ONGC, GAIL and TCS among others.
HDFC Bank along with index heavyweights Reliance Industries and HDFC were among the top losers in early trades.
Other losers include, Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank among others.
Global Markets
Asian markets were trading mixed with major markets trading slightly in positive terrain. Shares in Japan edged higher but upside gains were capped amid a strong dollar and caution ahead of earnings. The benchmark Nikkei was up 0.2% while China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.1%. However, shares in Hong Kong and Singapore witnessed profit taking with Hang Seng and Straits Times down 0.5% each.
US stocks ended flat with positive bias on Friday post comments from Yellen. The global benchmark Dow Jones industrial average rising just 0.2% with bank shares leading the gains after encouraging earnings. The index closed at 18,138. The S&P 500 ended nearly unchanged at 2,133 and the Nasdaq Composite also ended flat at 5,214.
