Markets start special trading on a flat note

ITC, pharma, banks and oil & gas among the top movers in opening tradespharma, banks and oil & gas among the top movers in opening trades

After a flat start, markets inched higher with the Sensex up 17 points at 20,099 and the Nifty added four points to trade around the 6,099 levels. Pharma stocks, Reliance Industries and ITC were major gainers.

Overnight, US stocks ended modestly higher on Friday, registering a third straight weekly advance. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.24 per cent 15,118 according to the latest available figures. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.43 per cent to 1,634 levels.

In the broader markets, the smallcap index started in line with the Sensex, up 0.1% while the midcap index was flat with a positive bias.

Among the sectoral indices, IT, Auto, Power and Realty started in the red, with the indices losing between 0.1-0.3%. On the other hand, Health Care, Metal, PSU, Oil & Gas, FMCG, Consumer Durables and Bankex indices started higher, up 0.2-1%.

The gainers among the Sensex-30 were pharma names like Dr Reddys Lab, Cipla and Sun Pharma up 1-2%.

Metal stocks like Sterlite, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Hindalco were up 0.1-1%.

Auto majors Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki were up 0.1% each.

Reliance Industries and ONGC gained 0.2-0.4%.

FMCG majors, ITC and Hindustan Unilever saw an uptick in opening trades, up 0.1-0.3%.

Coal India, Tata Power, L&T, BHEL which added 0.1-0.8% were the other notable gainers.

Among the ones in the negative were Gail India, NTPC, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Infosys, Wipro, TCS and HDFC, losing 0.2-1%.

The market breadth was positive on BSE. 561 stocks advanced while 380 stocks declined.