Markets continue to trade flat, weak rupee weighs

Markets continue to trade flat amid volatility as gains in Reliance Industries and IT majors helped offset some of the losses in HUL and ICICI Bank. Further, the weakness in the rupee also weighed on market sentiment

At 11:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 10 points at 19,307 and the 50-share Nifty was down 11 points at 5,717.

Japan's benchmark share index Nikkei share average touched a one-week high in early trades on Friday, amid Wall Street's record-close overnight on strong US economic data and the commitment by major central banks to keep monetary stimulus in place. A weaker yen also boosted sentiment. The Nikkei was up 2.6% while Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite and Straits Times were up 0.2-0.6%.

The rupee today lost 33 paise to 60.76 against the dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on higher demand for the US currency from importers, even as RBI took more measures to curb the domestic unit's fall.

Consumer Durbales index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices on the BSE, up 4.5% followed by IT, Oil and Gas indices up 1-1.5% each.

Sensex gainers were led by Reliance Industries was up 2.3% while ONGC was marginally up at Rs 281.

IT majors which earn major portion of their revenues from exports firmed up on the back of weakening rupee. Infosys, TCS and Wipro were up 1.5-3% each.

Hindustan Unilever was down 2.6% as investors continued to book profits in the FMCG major after sharp gains in the month of July.

Other Sensex losers include, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors.

Among other shares, Power Grid Corporation of India has tanked 13% to Rs 89 after its board approved to raise funds for its investment programme by issuing equity shares through follow on public offer (FPO).

Titan Industries has moved higher by nearly 8% to Rs 279, after reporting a strong 42% year-on-year (yoy) jump in net sales at Rs 3,088 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 (Q1), largely driven by jewellery on account of drop in gold prices. The company had sales income of Rs 2,175 crore in a year ago quarter.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was down 0.2% and the Small-cap index was down 0.5%.

Market breadth continued to remain weak with 1,085 losers and 693 gainers on the BSE.