Sensex, Nifty Turn Flat; Small-Caps Outperform

The BSE Sensex turned flat in the late morning deals on Monday amid the beginning of Budget session which started with President's address to both the houses of Parliament.

 

The Nifty continued to trade around its crucial psychological level of 8,850 owing to flat movement in the frontline stocks.

 

Meanwhile, the broader markets were seen outperforming the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices were up around 0.6 per cent each.

 

Among the frontline stocks, Sesa Sterlite was the top gainer; the stock advanced 2 per cent to Rs 222. Larsen & Toubro, Power Grid, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS and Hindalco were also trading higher by 1-1.5 per cent each. On the other hand, Lupin, Jindal Steel, Zee Entertainment, DLF, Cairn India, GAIL and NMDC were down 1-2.5 per cent each.

 

Jindal Steel and DLF slipped in trades today after the National Stock Exchange decided to move these shares out of the Nifty basket and replace them with Idea Cellular and Yes Bank.

 

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,341 stocks were advancing while 1,104 were declining.

 

AT 11:40 AM, the Sensex was up 78 points or 0.3 per cent at 29,309 and the Nifty jumped 0.2 per cent or 15 points to 8,849 levels.