Sensex, Nifty open flat; Tata Steel gains 2%, IT stocks weak

Equities snapped a two-day rally as the market benchmark Sensex plunged by 330 points to 24,287.42 ahead of the release of GDP numbers for the third quarter as selling pressure intensified in the second half of the session on bearish European cues.

The Indian equity markets traded flat during a choppy session all throughout the day’s trade.

“Indian markets opened on a tentative footing, but remained upwardly bound on hopes of good earnings results”, Anand James, co-head, technical research desk with Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, told IANS.

Moreover, the rupee depreciated by as much as 30 paise against the American currency.

It touched a high of 24,698.95 points and a low of 24,196.84 points during the intra-day trade.

At 10:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 275 points at 24,012 and the Nifty50 was down 83 points at 7,304. It was its biggest decline since January 20.

Bhushan Steel surged by up 6.28 per cent, JSW Steel ended 0.99 per cent higher, while Tata Steel gained 0.19 per cent. The company posted a consolidated net profit increase of 20% at Rs 110 crore during the quarter ended December 31, as against Rs 92 crore posted during the same period a year ago. Japan’s Nikkei has slumped 5% mirroring a weak closing on the Wall Street with Dow Jones closing about 400 points lower. However, European markets traded lower, extending last week’s tumble.

All sector-based indices of the BSE except for telecom and realty sectors ended in the red.

Back home, 22 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower.

However, Tata Motors fell by 1.94 per cent, followed by Infosys 1.36 per cent, TCS 1.25 per cent and Cipla 1.00 per cent.

Major Sensex gainers during Monday’s trade were Axis Bank, up 2.38 percent at Rs.408.40; State Bank of India (SBI), up 2.29 percent at Rs.172.05; Bharti Airtel, up 1.27 percent at Rs.311; Lupin, up 0.97 percent at Rs.1,818.90; and Gail, up 0.59 percent at Rs.343.50.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading down 0.98% at 10,247, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading down 0.96% at 10,466.

Asian share markets were scorched on Tuesday as stability concerns put a torch to European bank stocks and sent investors stampeding to only the safest of safe haven assets.