Markets have a subdued morning; Nifty hovers around 8,300

The benchmark indices are trading flat, with a negative bias this morning, despite the positive cues from the global front.

At 9.40, the Sensex is quoting at 27,436, higher by a mere one point point and the Nifty is at 8289, down 16 points. The midcap and smallcap indices are underperforming their largecap counterparts to register losses of more than one percent each at 10,324 and 10,830.

The stock markets continued their slide for the second consecutive week to end at 3-month lows on Friday, on the the back of worries regarding corporate earnings and fears of sub-par monsoons. The markets did open firm this morning, with the Sensex hitting an intra-day high of 27,567 at opening bell, but has been unable to sustain its early gains.

The markets are likely to be volatile ahead of the upcoming April derivatives expiry on Thursday. A two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to review US monetary policy is scheduled on 28-29 April 2015; investors would be keenly awaiting indication on the timing of the first increase in US interest rates in nearly a decade.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks hit new seven-year highs tracking gains over the weekend in the US with tech stocks emerging as the top gainers. However, investors continue to adopt wait-and-watch stance ahead of the meeting of central banks in Japan and the FOMC meet later this week. The Nikkei and Straits Times were trading flat while the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite were up 1.5-1.9% each.

The tech-laden Nasdaq continues to hit record highs led by encouraging earnings from IT majors such as Microsoft. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 21 points at 18,080.14 and the broader S&P 500 ended up 5 points at 2,117.69. The Nasdaq ended at a fresh all-time high up 36 points 5,092.08

RUPEE

The rupee declined in the early trade on Monday. It has opened lower by 14 paise at 63.70 per dollar against 63.56 Friday.

STOCKS AND SECTORS

All the sectoral indices are in the red, with capital goods, oil and gas, and IT sector ranking among the major losers this morning.

In the capital goods space, BEML, Bharat Electronics and L&T have lost between 1% and 6% each.

In the oil space, BPCL, HPCL and GAIL have shed around a percent each.

In the IT space, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech and Infosys have shed about a percent each.

Among individual stocks, NTPC has jumped by more than 1.2% at Rs 152 to top the gainer's list on the BSE. Private banking major ICICI Bank and auto major Maruti Suzuki are trading firm, up around 1% each, ahead of their March quarter earnings later today.

Kotak Mahindra Bank trading flat at Rs 1,373, recovering 1.5% from its early morning lows on the NSE, after new shares issued by the private sector lender on amalgamation of ING Vysya Bank were permitted for trade from today.

On the other hand, Tata  Steel, Gail and SBI have lost between 1% and 2% each. And Infosys has extended its losses post Q4  numbers. The IT bellweather, which had lost more than 6% on Friday, is down by another 1% at Rs 1,964.

The market breath is weak; out of 1904 shares traded on the BSE, there are 493 advancing stocks as against 1356 declines.