Markets open flat; Railway Budget, Feb F&O expiry eyed

The S&P BSE Sensex was up 4 points at 23,095 and Nifty50 was up 2 points at 7,021.

Markets opened flat as investors remained cautious ahead of the Railway Budget and the expiry of February derivative contracts today.

At 9:35am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 43 points at 23,046 and Nifty50 was down 15 points at 7,003.

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"The immediate support levels for the Nifty are seen around 6980 - 6940; whereas, 7080 - 7140 would act as intraday resistance levels for the Nifty. As the February F&O expiry slated today, we may see volatility in the market and thus, we advise traders to remain light on positions and avoid taking undue risk in this market," Angel Broking said in a note.


In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.2% each. Market breadth was firm with 627 gainers and 417 losers on the BSE.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 731 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

The rupee was trading flat at 68.54 to the US dollar in early trades.

BSE Metal, Capital Goods and Healthcare indices were among the top gainers. BSE Oil & Gas and Power indices were among the top losers.

ONGC was up over 1% after global crude oil prices recovered.

Infosys was up 0.4% on reports that the tenure of its chief executive officer and managing director Vishal Sikka will be extended by two years apart from revising his annual compensation significantly.

Tata Motors gained nearly 1% after the auto major sold more LCVs than M&M, the nearest competitor, consecutively in December and January.

ITC continues to witness selling pressure and was down nearly 1% on worries over excise duty hike on cigarettes in the forthcoming Budget.

Other losers include, HDFC, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank among others.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian markets were trading mixed despite a recovery in crude oil prices. Chinese shares declined the most with the benchmark Shanghai Composite down 2.6% and Hang Seng was down over 1%. Shares in Japan firmed up with Nikkei up 0.4% and Straits Times was trading with marginal gains.

US stocks reversed intra-day losses after stocks witnessed sharp gains in late trades as crude oil prices staged a recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 0.3% at 16,485, S&P 500 ended up 0.4% at 1,930 and Nasdaq ended up 0.9% at 4,543.