Sensex trading flat; investors turn cautious on continuing slide in crude oil prices

Mumbai, Jan 13: 

Indian equity markets were trading near flat as Asian stocks were mostly on the defensive as the continuing slide in crude oil prices turned investors cautious towards risk assets.

At 11.48 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was trading down by 33.17 points or 0.12 per cent at 27,552.10 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was trading up by 8.8 points or 0.11 per cent at 8,331.80.

Sectoral indices

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index fell the most by 1.04 per cent, followed by oil & gas 0.85 per cent, IT 0.3 per cent and TECk 0.15 per cent, while consumer durables index was up 0.99 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.77 per cent, healthcare 0.69 per cent and auto 0.39 per cent.

 Mid and small-cap cement stocks are up- Prism cement up 10%, Heidelberg Cement up 8%, JK Lakshmi Cement up 3%

    — Rajalakshmi Nirmal (@crajalakshmic) January 13, 2015

Gainers, losers

Major Sensex gainers were BHEL 1.92%, Cipla 1.45%, Hindalco 1.29%, Wipro 1.11% and SSLT 1.09%, while the top five losers were ONGC 2.2%, Infosys 1.22%, HUL 1.09%, GAIL 0.98% and Reliance 0.65%.

    After yesterday's shivers about divestment, Coal India opens flat/slightly up today. Company's new head keen on modernization

    — Meera Siva (@siva_meera) January 13, 2015

Early trade

The equity markets opened in the green on Tuesday morning, with the Sensex trading up by 37 points at 27,622 and the Nifty at 8,341, up 18 points. The broader markets looked up minutes after trading opened as well.

'No definite proposal' for mega merger (Hindustan Zinc, Cairn, Sesa) notes company's response to the exchange; HZ stock flat-up slightly

    — Meera Siva (@siva_meera) January 13, 2015

Analyst Prashanth Tapse said: "Indian markets are likely to open on a constructive note taking cues from global sentiments. Markets would also react to CPI and IIP data which came post market hours on Monday. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of November was reported at 3.8 per cent versus (-) 4.2% in October. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation for the month of December rose to 5 per cent, driven by higher food costs.''

 Oberoi Realty announced the launch of 2 developments, Eternia and Enigma, at Mulund Stock up 1.7% today #realty

    — Meera Siva (@siva_meera) January 13, 2015

Global market: Overnight, US stocks ended lower led by another sharp decline in energy shares as oil prices tumbled about 5 per cent and concern grew ahead of corporate earnings season."

Asian stocks were mostly on the defensive on Tuesday as the continuing slide in crude oil prices turned investors cautious towards risk assets, with the dollar touching a one-month low against the safe-haven yen in choppy trading.

South Korea's KOSPI dipped 0.1 per cent and Australian shares fell 0.3 per cent. Tokyo's Nikkei led losses in the region, declining 1.4 per cent.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan see-sawed in and out of the red and was last up 0.1 per cent.

The volatile Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.1 per cent, trimming the bulk of its earlier gains.