Market Live: Sensex, Nifty flat in opening; MM top gainer, Infosys drags

10:30 am Betting on cement, construction and housing finance: Buoyed by the government’s push for affordable housing projects under ‘Housing for All by 2022’ initiative, mutual funds are actively lapping up shares of companies from cement, construction and housing finance companies.

Data on sectoral investments by mutual funds on the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) reveals that investments in financial sector rose the highest last month.

As on April 30, 2017, the 43-player-strong mutual fund industry had allocated Rs 51,931 crore to finance sector as against Rs 46,798 crore in March 2017, an increase of 11 percent.

Followed by finance sector, mutual funds bet on cement and construction projects. As on April 30, fund managers deployed Rs 21,168 crore in cement sector compared with Rs 18,680 crore invested in March. In the same period, investments in construction projects stood at Rs 28,025 crore as against Rs 25,215 crore in the previous month.

10.01 am Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to be rangebound in morning trade but broader markets outperformed. Investors awaited Q4 and full year GDP due later today.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 18.29 points at 31,177.69 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 5.20 points to 9,629.75 while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained nearly a percent each.

The market breadth was positive as about 1226 shares advanced against 734 declining shares on the BSE.

Mahindra & Mahindra extended gains to over 4 percent after brokerage houses remained positive, advising buy.

Maruti Suzuki, Lupin and GAIL gained more than a percent whereas Infosys, ITC, TCS, HDFC and ONGC were losers.

9:55 am Buzzing: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals share price gained more than 2 percent in morning trade on receiving final approval from the US health regulator for Atomoxetine capsules.

“Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc, USA has been granted final approval by the United States Food & Drug Administration for Atomoxetine capsules USP, 10 mg, 18 mg, 25 mg, 40 mg, 60 mg, 80 mg and 100 mg,” the company said in its filing.

Atomoxetine capsules, a generic version of Strattera Capsules of Eli Lilly and Company, is used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

According to IMS Health sales data for the 12 month period ending April 2017, the Strattera capsules achieved annual sales of approximately USD 1.1 billion.

9:39 am Demerger: Leisure and education travel group Cox and Kings (CKL) said it will demerge its foreign exchange division into a separate financial services entity – Cox and Kings Financial Service (CKFSL).

The company’s board has approved the demerger, which is effective April 1, 2017, and is subject to High Court and other regulatory approvals, CKL said in a release.

Whilst the tours and travels and foreign exchange (Forex) businesses are complementary in nature, the businesses operate quite distinctly from each other, the company said.

9:29 am FII View: Sanjay Mookim of Bank of America Merrill Lynch said there is much investor anxiety about market valuations post the recent rally; with an increasing desire to find the still inexpensive/reasonably priced stocks.

The market is expensive and the breadth of re-rating is extraordinary, he added.

There is a strong chance the current valuations driven rally turns, Mookim said, adding the brokerage house stayed cautious with a Sensex December 2017 target of 30,000.

Recent history suggests buying inexpensive/laggard stocks does not help during such a correction, he feels.

Also read- Buy, Sell, Hold: 6 stocks that analysts are tracking today

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks were mixed in opening trade, with the Nifty holding 9,600 level amid consolidation, ahead of GDP data for the March quarter and FY17.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 9.32 points at 31,150.08 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 0.95 points to 9,623.60.

Mahindra & Mahindra was top gainer in early trade, up 3 percent; followed by Lupin, Bharti Airtel, GAIL, ICICI Bank, IOC and Hindalco.

Infosys, ITC, TCS, NTPC, ONGC and Aurobindo Pharma were early losers.

The Indian rupee rebounded to 64.55 against the US dollar after correction in previous session. It gained 11 paise compared with previous day’s closing of 64.66 a dollar.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity expects the rupee to trade neutral against the dollar.

According to him, it is likely to trade in the range of 64.50-64.80 a dollar today.
Stocks in Asia were mostly higher, but the British pound fell on new poll results that showed UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party could potentially lose its majority in parliament.