Sensex, Nifty trade flat; Pharma stocks shine

Mumbai, May 28 : Indian equity benchmarks opened flat on Tuesday following sideways momentum in the market due to elections. At 9:50 a.m., Sensex was at 75,477, up 79 points or 0.11 per cent and Nifty was up 28 points or 0.13 per cent at 22,961 points. Midcap and smallcap stocks are underperforming to large-cap.

Nifty Midcap 100 index is down 91 points or 0.17 per cent, at 52,667 and Nifty Smallcap 100 index is down 14 points or 0.08 per cent, at 17,006. India volatility index (India VIX) is up 2.03 per cent at 23.66 points. The positive trend has been seen on NSE.

Out of the total shares, 1077 are in green while 916 shares remain in red. 19 out of 30 Sensex stocks are trading in green. NTPC, Tata Steel, Wipro, JSW Steel, SBI, Bajaj Finance and IndusInd Bank are the top gainers. Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, TCS and HCL are the top losers.

Among Sector Indices, Nifty Pharma is the top gainer. Metal and Healthcare are other major gainers. IT, Auto, Reality and Oil & Gas are major laggards. Mixed trading is taking place in Asian markets. Tokyo and Bangkok are in the red. At the same time, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Jakarta and Seoul are bullish. US markets were closed on Monday. Brent crude remains at $83 per barrel and WTI crude at $79 per barrel. Vaishali Parekh, Vice President -Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt Ltd, said: “Nifty has once again made an all-time new high breaching above the 23100 zone during the intraday session but failed to give a close above the 23000 levels with profit booking in the final hours eroded the gains to some extent.”

“The index would have the important near-term support of 22800 levels while on the upside a decisive breach above 23200 levels shall trigger for further rise till targets of 23500-23600 zone in the coming days,” she added.