Stock Market: Sensex, Nifty Turn Flat Amid Volatility; IT Lead, Pharma Dips. L&T, Dr Reddy's Drag

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, L&T, ITC, Airtel, Tata Steel, Nestle, Tata Motors were among the laggards. NTPC, Asian Paints, TechM, HCL, Infosys, Wipro emerged early winners

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, which opened with slim gains on Thursday after US inflation eased to a two-year low of 4.9 per cent in April, turned flat during early morning trade tracking high volatility.

At 9.40 am, the BSE Sensex marginally declined 50 points to 61,890. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty was trading at 18,298, down 17 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, L&T, ITC, Airtel, Tata Steel, Nestle, Tata Motors were among the laggards. On the upside, NTPC, Asian Paints, TechM, HCL, Infosys, Wipro emerged early winners. Among specific stocks, L&T, Dr Reddy's, and Hindalco witnessed strong selling pressure. 

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose up to 0.5 per cent versus 0.1 per cent rise in BSE Sensex.

Sectorwise, Nifty IT index rose the most, up 0.6 per cent, while Pharma pocket was the top drag that dropped 1 per cent.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the S&P BSE Sensex closed 179 points higher to 61,940. On the Nifty50 shut shop at 18,315, up 49 points.

In Asia, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong markets quoted lower while Seoul traded in the green. The US market ended mostly in the negative territory on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they bought equities worth Rs 1,833.13 crore, according to exchange data.

"FPI inflows continue unabated touching Rs 19,865 crore in May as per depository data. This will impart resilience to the market even if there is profit-booking," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.75 per cent to $76.98 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the rupee declined 2 paise to 81.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday amid weak sentiments in the Asian markets and upward movement in the crude oil price. According to forex traders, positive sentiments in the domestic equities market and inflow of foreign funds provided support to the Indian currency.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened weak at 81.97 against the dollar and touched 81.93. It slipped to 81.96 against the American currency, registering a fall of 2 paise over its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee closed at 81.94 against the US currency.