Markets turn flat after firm opening; Infosys down 1%

The main gainers on the Sensex are Infosys, Tata Motors, TCs, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel and GAIL

After a robust opening amid strong global cues, markets have come off days high on account of profit booking.

By 9:30, the Sensex was higher by 48 points at 28,211 mark whereas the Nifty gained 8 points at 8,434 levels.

On the global front, stock markets around the world rose on Tuesday and the yen hit a seven-year low as news of a snap election and a delayed tax increase in Japan bolstered hopes for new stimulus measures a day after data showed the country was back in recession.

Wall Street got additional lift from merger deals, rises in healthcare issues and benign US inflation data, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average closing at new highs.

Later in the day, the US Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its last policy meeting, which markets will watch for any clues on when the Fed will start raising rates.

Japanese shares are trading flat with a positive bias after PM Abe announced fresh elections and the proposed hike in consumption tax was delayed. Investors will be looking at the Bank of Japan meeting scheduled later today for cues.

Chinese shares remain subdued on profit booking after the launch of connect scheme between Hong Kong and China stock market. Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng indices are trading with losses of 0.2-0.3% each.

Back home, the provisional data released by the stock exchanges after trading hours on Tuesday showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 101.98 crore on that day.

On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, Healthcare, Auto and Power indices have gained by nearly 1% each. Apart from IT, all the sectoral indices are trading in green zone.

The main gainers on the Sensex are Hindalco, L&T, Bajaj Auto, HUL, Tata Power and Sesa Sterlite.

On the losing side, Infosys, Tata Motors, TCs, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel and GAIL have declined between 0.2-1%.

Infosys is down by nearly 1%. Infosys on Tuesday announced the termination of the services of Abraham Mathews, chief financial officer (CFO) of its business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary, for non-compliance with the model code of conduct. The company also said Gautam Thakkar, chief executive officer of Infosys BPO, had quit, taking moral responsibility for the incident.

Axis Bank has slipped by nearly 1%. The Bank said it priced $500 million 3.250% senior unsecured notes due 2020 (the Notes). The Notes are issued by Axis Bank's DIFC branch, Dubai and are rated Baa2 by Moody's, BBB- by S&P and BBB- by Fitch.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices have gained by nearly 1% each.

The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,156 shares advancing and 360 shares declining.