Markets finish flat amid volatility

Markets finished the session  on a flat note amid volatility after Chinese shares slumped over 6% as investors fear that the demand in China will cool further, weighing on the trade-reliant region.

Meanwhile, rating agency Moody's Investors Service scaled down its projections for India's economic growth for 2015-16 to 7% from an earlier estimate of 7.5% on deficient monsoon which hurt the sentiments.

Provisionally, the Sensex dropped 34 points to close at 27,844 and the Nifty gave off 12 points to end at 8,465  

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(updated at 12:45 PM)

Volatility is witnessed across the board as the benchmark indices have slipped in red tracking the weakness in Asian peerson the back of cooling demand in China.

At 12.45 PM, the Sensex was at 27,812, down 68 points and the Nifty was at 8,454 down 23 points.

The broader markets,however, are outperforming their larger peers with BSE Midcap index trading up by 0.3% while BSE smallcap index is trading 0.2% up. The market breadth is positive with 1,348 advances against 1,160 declines on the BSE.

Meanwhile, rating agency Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday scaled down its projections for India's economic growth for 2015-16 to 7% from an earlier estimate of 7.5% on deficient monsoon, which also dampened the sentiments.

The US Fed Reserve is set to release the meeting minutes of the two day policy held on July 28-29 tomorrow. Investors are expecting to receive further signals of a rate hike.

Further, on the monsoon front, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD), so far, the country has received 10% below average rainfall.

SECTORS & STOCKS

Sectorally, BSE Metal is leading the downfall with 2% losses while on the upside, BSE IT index is rallying 1.4%.

Metal pack has slipped on concerns of a slowdown in Chinese economy. Vedanta, Hindalco, Coal India are all down between 2-3.5% each on the Sensex.

Oil prices slipped further in Asia today, weighed down by a strengthening dollar as concerns about weakening demand in China added to the woes of already oversupplied market. Public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) have gained strength on the back of the slide. IOC, BPCL, HPCL have rallied between 2.3-4.1% each while Reliance Inds, Cairn India, GAIL are down between 0.5-4% each.

IT space has advanced across the board following gains in U.S. equities as strong homebuilder data added to signs of an improvement in the world’s biggest economy. Infosys, TCS, HCL, Tech M have all gained between 1.3-2.1% each.

Other notable gainers on the Sensex are L&T, Tata Steel, SBI , having gained between 0.6-1.2% each while notable losers are HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, ITC, having lost between 1-1.5% each.

Among other companies, Tea and coffee companies have soared by up to 9% each on the bourses on reports that the government is considering allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in coffee plantation sectors. Among individual stocks, Tata Coffee has rallied 7% on the BSE, while  CCL Products, Mcleod Russel India, Andrew Yule & Company, Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, Tata Global Beverages have surged by 4-8% each.

Shares of United Bank of India were up over 4% at Rs 25 after the bank reduced interest rate on domestic term deposits by 25-50 basis points across various maturities.