Sensex remains flat, small caps face erosion

The Indian equity indices opened slightly higher on Wednesday as smallcap and midcap stocks saw some pressure in the morning trade amid growing concerns over Hindenburg row.

At 9:47 a.m., Sensex was up 154 points or 0.20 per cent at 79,110 and Nifty was up 23 points or 0.10 per cent at 24,162. Selling was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks.

Nifty midcap 100 index is down 167 points or 0.29 per cent at 56,714 and Nifty small 100 index is down 72 points or 0.40 per cent at 18,131.

At 12 p.m., Sensex moved in a tight range of 78,896 – 79,114, and was up 50 points at 79,000 levels while the Nifty 50 was seen hovering around 24,150 levels.

Among the sectoral indices, Auto, IT, PSU Bank, fin service and energy are major gainers. Pharma, FMCG and realty are major laggards. In the Sensex pack, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, M&M, SBI, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors and TCS were the top gainer.

UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Nestle India, HUL, Bajaj Finserv and Asian Paints were the top losers in the morning trade. Meanwhile, mixed trading is taking place in the Asian market. There is a decline in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Bangkok, Seoul and Jakarta are trading in the green.

There was a decline in Producer Price Index (PPI) figures in the US which is a sign of decreasing inflation. Due to this the US stock market rose by one percent on Tuesday. According to experts, the PPI inflation numbers from the US indicate softening of inflation, and a confirmation of this declining trend is likely from the CPI numbers coming today.

“The US market moved up on Tuesday in anticipation of this and a rate cut by the Fed in September. If the rate cut is by 50bp, the US market will remain resilient lending support to global markets,” they added.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling as they sold equities worth Rs 2,107 crore on August 13, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,239 crore on the same day.

(With inputs from IANS)