Markets trade flat ahead of RBI minutes; Nifty holds above 9,600

Muted trend in Asian markets following a renewed slump in oil prices also impacted the sentiment

The benchmark indices fell on Wednesday as investors waited for minutes of a June policy meet by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to gauge the direction of interest rates in the months ahead.

On the global front, muted trend seen in Asian markets following a renewed slump in oil prices to seven-month lows, also impacted the sentiment. Investors also decoded the impact of a decision by US index provider MSCI to add mainland Chinese stocks to one of its popular benchmarks.

At 2:00 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 31,202, down 94 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,610, down 43 points. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices outperformed to gain 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively. 

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, once again turned positive from negative. On BSE, 1,198 shares rose and 1,170 shares fell. A total of 157 shares were unchanged.

Oil explorers fell after global oil prices hit seven-month lows, with Oil and Natural Gas Corp falling as much as 2.5% and Oil India down as much as 1.9%.

Shares of aviation companies were flying high with all the three airliners SpiceJet, InterGlobe Aviation and Jet Airways  trading higher in the range of 2% to 3% on the BSE in an otherwise weak market after good growth in passenger traffic and lower crude oil prices.

SpiceJet was up 3% to hit its new high of Rs 131, while InterGlobe Aviation that runs IndiGo Airlines was up 2.2% at Rs 1,259, touching a fresh 52-week high on the BSE in intra-day trade. Jet Airways was up 3% too to Rs 566.

Price of aviation fuel is the biggest cost factor for low-budget carriers.

Amtek Auto hit an upper circuit limit of 10% at Rs 28.15 on media reports that 21 investors showed interest to buy a stake in the debt-ridden company.

Financial stocks also dragged the Nifty lower for the second straight session, with the Nifty Financial Services Index down as much as 0.5%.

Larsen & Toubro rose as much as 1.8% after the government's Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India sold a 2.5% stake in the company for more than Rs 40 billion ($619 million).

Overseas, most Asian shares declined following a sell off in energy shares after oil prices slipped around 2% overnight. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.8% with Australia's commodity-heavy market down 1.5%. Japan's Nikkei eased 0.45%, while China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.29%.