Market opens flat; global cues weigh

Market opened flat with a positive bias as investors remain jittery ahead of key economic data slated to be released later in the week. International cues also weighed on the sentiment, a day before US markets remained subdued over Ukraine fears.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened 6 points higher at 21,941 and at the same time 50-untit NSE Nifty was trading 6 points higher at 6,538.   

Foreign investors pumped in over Rs 3,000 crore in the past week mainly on hopes of a strong mandate for the government to be elected in polls starting next month. However, markets participants seem cautious ahead of IIP numbers that will slate to come out later in the week. On Monday, markets extended gains in the last hour of trade and registered fresh all time high on account of active buying witnessed in rate sensitive sectors followed by power and oil & gas indices whereas sectors like FMCG and technology counters remained under selling pressure.

The Nifty is now testing resistance in the zone above 6,500 and it's hit successive all-time highs in the previous four sessions. This is entirely new territory so target-setting is likely to be very inaccurate. But a target of 6,700-6,800 looks possible in the short-term, computed purely on the basis of the breakout from a trading range of 6,000-6,400," says technical analyst and market expert -Devangshu Dutta.
 
US indices edged lower, dragged down by weak China data; China's exports fell 20% yoy. The Dow Jones fell 34.04 points or 0.21 percent, to 16,418.68, while S&P 500 shed 0.87 points or 0.05 percent, to 1,877.17 and the Nasdaq Composite was off 1.775 points or 0.04 percent, at 4,334.448.

The face-off between Russia and West over Ukraine continues and act as a drag on global markets. Russia is trying to take control of Crimea region from Ukraine.  

Asian stocks are up as investors await the conclusion of the Bank of Japan’s policy meeting. Nikkei was up 1%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down by 2%.  South Korea's Kospi index was trading 0.16 per cent lower at 1,951. China's Shanghai index was trading lower.