Sensex Trades Flat, Nifty Hovers Near 8,950

The BSE Sensex and Nifty struggled to gain momentum on Tuesday amid some weakness in banking, auto and metal stocks.

Weighing on the sentiment, core sector growth for the month of January declined to a year low of 1.8 per cent, compared to 3.7 percent in the same month last year. Core sector contributes 38 per cent to overall index of industrial production.

The Sensex fell as much as 80 points to 29,844, while the 50-shares Nifty shed 30 points to 8,926. However, it pared losses with some buying support in IT, energy and healthcare stocks.

Higher global markets also provided some support to Indian stocks. Both Dow and S&P closed at record highs on Monday and the tech heavy Nasdaq closed above the 5,000 mark for the first time in 15 years.

Foreign investors who, had pumped in over Rs 6,000 crore in to Indian equities in February, remained net buyers in cash markets on Monday; they have bought shares worth Rs 425 crore.

Asian Paints was the top gainer in Nifty, up nearly 2 per cent as crude oil fell nearly 4 per cent yesterday. Crude oil derivatives are used as raw material for paint manufacturing.

Coal India fell over 5 per cent to be the top loser in Nifty.

As of 9.28 a.m., Sensex traded 51 points lower at 29,408, and Nifty was down 22 points at 8,935.