Sensex hovers above 28,700; Hindalco down over 4%

Markets continued to trade flat with positive bias as gains in select index heavyweights helped offset losses in metal shares with Hindalco falling the most.

At 12:55PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 33 points at 28,743 and the 50-share Nifty was up 10 points at 8,722.

India’s current-account deficit held near the widest since the quarter through June 2013 as falling oil prices were insufficient to offset a drop in exports. The October-December shortfall in the broadest measure of trade was $8.2 billion compared with $10.2 billion the previous quarter, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement on Tuesday.

India’s trade deficit widened to $39.2 billion during the quarter from $38.6 billion in the September quarter as exports fell 7.3% while imports declined 4.5%. Gold shipments are seen surging after the government last month refrained from raising a record tariff.

Meanwhile, investors are trading with caution and are unwilling to take fresh positions ahead of the proceedings in the Parliament particularly with respect to the passage of key bills such as Land Acquisition Bill in Rajya Sabha.

Further, foreign institutional investors turned net sellers in equities worth Rs 748 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data. They were also net sellers in the F&O segment to the tune of Rs 475 crore.

The Indian rupee was trading flat at 62.76 to the US dollar. The rupee had weakened in early trades due to gains in the dollar against other global currencies on expectations of sooner-than-expected interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

BSE Metal index was the top sectoral loser down 1.5% followed by Healthcare, Realty and Auto among others. FMCG, IT and Power indices were among the gainers.

Metal shares were the top losers with Hindalco down over 4%  as the company is one of the accused in the coal scam alongwith its managing director Debu Bhattacharya and Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla  and have been summoned to the court on April 8th. Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel were down over 1% each.

Infosys trimmed early gains and was up 0.8%. The IT major on Tuesday said that its business process outsourcing services subsidiary Infosys BPO has opened a centre in Puerto Rico, South America. Among other IT majors, TCS and Wipro were up 0.2-2% each.

In the FMCG pack, HUL was up 1.7% while ITC trimmed early gains and was trading flat ahead of CPI numbers due to be released tomorrow.

Brent crude oil has slipped below $58 a barrel as the dollar hit multi-year highs and the oil market remained hobbled by oversupply and weak demand. Oil and Gas major ONGC is down 1.3%. However, Reliance Industries is up 0.4%.

Faster growth and improved consumer sentiment should boost sales of passenger cars and utility vehicles in India by 6 to 8 percent in the year starting in April, the country's auto industry body said on Tuesday. M&M and Bajaj Auto are trading higher up to 1%.

In the capital goods space, BHEL, L&T are trading lower up to 1% on caution ahead of the IIP data due tomorrow.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices are down 0.2-0.3% each.

Market breadth was weak with 1,477 losers and 1,072 gainers on the BSE.