Banks lift benchmark indices; TCS down 4%

Traders expected to remain cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy review later today

After a see-sawing on the either sides of dotted lines in the opening hour, benchmark indices gained as strength in financials, ITC and RIL helped cap the losses in IT heavyweights.

AT 1045 hrs, the Sensex was up 34 points at 21,866 and the Nifty gained 14 points to trade at 6,531.

From the financial space, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC twins were the major gainers.
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(Updated at 1055 hrs)
After a brief opening in green, the benchmark indices slipped into the negative territory owing to weakness in IT heavyweights.

At 0940 hrs, the Sensex was down 18 points at 21,814 and the Nifty was flat at 6,513, down four points.

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(Updated at 0935 hrs)
Markets started marginally higher as the weakness in IT heavyweights weighed on the indices in opening trades.  At 0916 hrs, the Sensex was up 36 points at 21,868 and the Nifty added seven points to trade at 6,523.

In the broader markets, the mid and smallcap indices advanced 0.4% each, outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was up 0.1%.

Traders are expected to remain cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy review later today.

Sectors and Stocks

IT and Teck indices down 2% each along with Realty index down 0.1% were the only sectoral indices in the red.

Bankex, Power, Oil & Gas, Meta, Auto and FMCG indices were up 0.4-0.6%.

The only losers among Sensex-30 were IT majors, TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Maruti Suzuki down 0.7-3.7%. TCS slipped after the company announced that fourth quarter of FY14 will be weak, with the management expecting margins to be down by 40-50 basis points.

Among the gainers were Gail India, Coal India, RIL, HDFC, Tata Power and Axis Bank, up 1-2%.

The market breadth was positive. 745 stocks advanced while 384 stocks declined on the BSE.

Global Markets

Asian shares were trading lower as investors remained cautious amid the ongoing geo-political situation emerging in Ukraine and ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy review later today.

Japan's Nikkei was down 0.3%, Shanghai Composite was down 0.8%, Hang Seng was trading flat with negative bias while Straits Times was trading 0.7% lower.

US stocks ended higher for the second straight session on Tuesday after worries over Ukrainian crisis eased. Technology shares were among the top gainers.

The Dow Jones ended up 0.6% at 16,336, the S&P 500 gained 0.7% to close at 1,872 and the tech-laden Nasdaq ended 1.2% higher at 4,333.