Sensex pares early gains to turn flat, Nifty hovers around 9,200

The S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices gained 0.5% each

The benchmark indices on Monday pared initial gains to turn flat ahead of March quarter earnings, which begins later this week. Cautious trade in Asian markets on geopolitical concerns also impacted the sentiment. 

At 11:42 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 29,739, up 32 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,214, up 16 points. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices gained 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively.  

"Going ahead, we may see some consolidation or minor profit taking moves; but the undertone remains bullish and we would continue with our ‘buy on dips’ strategy in the market. The immediate support zone is seen around 9,160-9,114 for the forthcoming session. On the flipside, 9,250-9,268 levels would remain as intraday resistances," said brokerage Angel Broking in a research note. 

Buzzing stocks

Religare Enterprises surged over 5% to Rs 230 after the company on Sunday announced it will sell its entire 80% stake in Religare Health Insurance to a consortium of investors led by private equity fund True North Managers for an estimated Rs 1,040 crore. 

Divis Laboratories rose over 4% to Rs 656 after the drug firm on Saturday said the US health regulator has exempted some more products manufactured at the company's Visakhapatnam facility from an import alert issued earlier.

Avenue Supermarts, which runs D-Mart stores, has seen its market capitalisation (m-cap) crossing Rs 50,000 crore after the stock hit a new high of Rs 803.35 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in today's trade. 

Among losers, Sobha tanked over 8% to Rs 380 after the company's promoter Sobha Menon sold 40 lakh shares or 4.15% in the real estate firm at an average price of Rs 414.9 per share on Friday, bulk deal data on the BSE showed. 

Q4 earnings kick off this week

A handful of companies are expected to account for most of the incremental growth in net profit, even as the combined net profit of Nifty 50 firms is estimated to grow in high double digits in the fourth quarter (Q4), largely due to a good showing by metal companies and public sector banks. In comparison, export-intensive and domestic manufacturers are likely to report muted revenue and profit growth due to cross-currency headwinds, higher raw material cost and some lag effect of demonetisation. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT

Infosys, Bajaj Capital and Reliance Power are scheduled to report their March quarter earnings on 13 April. 

Business confidence hits record high 

With companies being optimistic that economic activities will gather pace this year, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) business confidence index (BCI) soared to an all-time high in the January-March quarter. 

“A sharp uptick in business outlook, at the onset of 2017, underpins the hope that the reform initiatives of the government would unravel a host of investment opportunities for firms, going forward,” industry body CII said on the surge in the index.

Global markets

Asian markets started trade on a cautious note as increased geopolitical risks prompted investors to favour safe-haven bets such as government debt while the dollar benefited from comments from a US central banker.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was broadly flat after declining 0.4% on Friday. Korea was down 0.5%, while Australia was up by 0.4%.

Meanwhile, in US, economic data offered little support with major indices closing lower in choppy trade after a key jobs report on Friday showed the economy added 98,000 jobs in March, the fewest since last May and well below economists' expectation of 180,000.

(With inputs from Reuters)