Markets open flat ahead of F&O expiry today

Commentary

oi-Sunil

By Sunil Fernandes

Published: Wednesday, February 26, 2014, 9:35 [IST]

The Sensex and the Nifty opened the day flat ahead of F&O expiry today and a truncated trading week ahead.

The Sensex was trading with gains of 44 points, while the Nifty was trading with gains of 11 points.

Leading the list of gainers in early trade was Bharat heavy Electricals after reports that the LIC would pick a stake in the company.

Canara Bank was trading marginally higher after reports that the company was taking over another Karnataka based bank.

However, other private sector banks were trading subdued after reports of the Jalan Committee on new banking licences submitted its report to the Reserve Bank of India for new banking licences.

Banking license aspirants like L&T Finance Holdings shed ground after rallying substantially in trade on Tuesday. LIC Housing Finance another aspirant for banking license was also marginally lower.

Nifty stocks that lost ground in trade were Coal India, NMDC, Sesa Sterlite and Ultratech Cement.

Mid cap stocks saw some pressure in early trade with the index trading marginally lower. Stocks from the space that fell were Jain irrigation, JSW Energy, GMR Infra and Unitech.

IT stocks which gained ground on Tuesday were trading flat. TCS, Infosys and HCL tech saw their share prices little changed over Tuesday's levels.

Ranbaxy Labs continued to grind higher despite shipments being stopped from two plants for stringent compliance as analysts see this as positive for the stock in the long term.

Meanwhile, markets across Asia were trading flat to positive with gains being seen in the Shanghai Composite and the Hong Kong's Hang Sang.

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