Sensex, Nifty Flat; Reliance Falls, ICICI Bank Gains After Q1 Earnings

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading on a flat note on Monday as gains in ICICI Bank, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finserv were offset with losses in Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, HDFC, State Bank of India and Larsen & Toubro.

As of 2:01 pm, the Sensex was down 51 points at 52,925 and Nifty 50 index slipped 9 points to 15,846.

"We witnessed an attempt in the market to hold above an important support level of 15,800. While sustaining above 15,800 is the key factor from a short-term perspective, we expect the market to extend the rally till 15,920-15,950, Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, CapitalVia Global Research told NDTV.

Six of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Metal index's 0.8 per cent gain. Select Media, Pharma and IT shares were also witness mild buying interest.

On the other hand, Auto, banking, financial services and realty shares were witnessing selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares were outperforming their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indexes rose over 0.4 per cent each.

Bajaj Finserv was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.3 per cent to Rs 13,201. Hindalco, Divi's Labs, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Titan, SBI Life, Britannia Industries and Sun Pharma were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, JSW Steel, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, Wipro, BPCL and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,883 shares were advancing while 1,417 shares were declining on the BSE.