Sensex flat; automakers fall, drugmakers gain

Reuters Market Eye - The Nifty is up 0.05 percent, while the Sensex is 0.17 percent higher.

Shares are being weighed down by concerns about the domestic economy after data on Thursday showed the current account deficit for the October-December quarter widened to a record high of 6.7 percent of GDP.

Meanwhile, data on Monday showed the HSBC manufacturing PMI fell to 52.0 in March, dragged down by cooling domestic and foreign demand.

Auto shares are under pressure on worries they would report weak vehicle sales in March: Tata Motors is down 2 percent, while Maruti Suzuki falls 0.6 percent.

However, shares in Natco Pharma Ltd gain 5.3 percent and Cipla Ltd rise 1.8 percent, after the Supreme Court dismissed Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG's petition seeking patent for its cancer drug Glivec.;

 

(Reporting by Manoj Dharra)