Sensex, Nifty flat, Power stocks rise
Kingfisher employees have stopped short of saying that they would strike work in their letter to Vijay Mallya, the company chairman.
Indian stock markets traded flat Monday, with the BSE Sensex rising 27 points or 0.16% at 17,431 to 11.30 am. The Nifty index was up 2 points at 5,297.
Energy, metal and auto stocks came under selling pressure. Power, realty and capital goods stocks saw some buying interest.
The consumer durables index on the BSE traded with nearly 4% gains. The outperformance was on account of strong buying interest in Titan Industries (7%), which jumped after the government allowed the firm to import gold directly.
Power stocks gained after state electricity boards hike tariffs. Many other states are also gearing up to raise power tariffs. Reliance Infra (2.8%) and Reliance Power (2.5%) were the top gainers on the Nifty index. State run power major NTPC (1.6%) also saw buying interest.
Auto stocks rose on the back of strong March sales numbers. Shares of Tata Motors, M&M and Maruti traded higher.
However, Bajaj Auto shares (-2.4%) dropped after Sri Lanka raised import duty on petrol and diesel powered three wheelers. Sri Lanka accounts for about 37% of the three wheeler exports at 9,000 to 10,000 units per month. Bajaj Auto was the top Nifty loser.
The market breadth was strong with 75% stocks rising on the broader BSE 500 index.
