Market remain flat; Metals, healthcare lead

Benchmark indices conitnue to trade flat while broader markets outperformed. Market remains flat as investors are wary of taking positions a day before Infosys kicks off the second earnings results.

At 10:38 AM the 30-share BSE Sensex was flat at 20,249 levels while broader NSE Nifty was up 6 points at 6014. BSE Mid-cap and small cap are up between 0.6%-0.7%.

Stocks in Asia rose on hopes that US lawmakers would soon reach an agreement over the budget and end the shutdown.The Asian markets are flat to high. Japan's Nikkei is up 0.8% and Hong Kong's Hang is absolutely flat. South Korea's Kospi index gained 0.10 while China's Shanghai index is down 0.20%.

The rupee weakened in early trades due to importers rushing to cover up their near term requirements ahead of the US debt payment deadline.

At 10:00am, the rupee was quoting at Rs 62.22 compared with previous close of Rs 61.94 per dollar.

With India's slowdown having significant spillover effects to the rest of South Asia, the World Bank wants governments to work harder on reforms to raise growth in a region with the world's most poor.

With economic growth in South Asia expected to be modest this year and in 2014, the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 will not be attained, the Bank said in its South Asia Economic Focus report.

Key US share indices ended flat on Wednesday on hopes that lawmakers would soon come to an agreement over the budger and put an end to the federal government shutdown.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 26 points, or 0.2%, to end at 14,803. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed 1 point, or 0.06% higher, at 1,656. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 17 points or 0.5%, to end the session at 3,678.

European stocks ended lower on Wednesday as the continuing shutdown in the US continued to weigh on investor sentiment. The CAC-40 ended down 0.2%, DAX slipped 0.5% while the FTSE-100 closed 0.4% lower.

On the sectoral front, Metals and realty are up over 1% while consumer durables, healthcare, PSU, FMCG, IT are up between 0.3%-0.8%, Capital goods and power are up 0.2%. Oil & gas and banks are the laggards among sectors on BSE.

Jindal Steel, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Steel,Maruti Suzuki, Cipla are the top Sensex gainers while HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma,    RIL, Tata Power are the top laggards.

Market breath remains strong as 1041 stocks advanced against a decline seen in 562 stocks at the BSE.

STOCKS TO WATCH

DLF is trading higher by over 3% at Rs 152, extending its previous day’s nearly 6% rally on BSE, after the real estate developer said it sold assets worth of Rs 147 crore as part of its strategy to pare debt by exiting non-core businesses.

IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company has rallied over 6% at Rs 36.30 in early morning deals on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after the board fixed the price of around Rs 32 per share for its proposed rights issue



Sources said that Idea Cellular is likely to announce a QIP of Rs 3,000 crore as early as next week