Stock Market: Sensex, Nifty Trade Flat Amid Volatility. Bajaj Finance Up 3%; Delta Corp Shares Tank

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Bajaj twins, Maruti, Asian Paints, UltraCemco, JSW Steel were among gainers. On the downside, L&T, Infosys, HCL, ITC, Wipro, TCS, HCL emerged losers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday were trading flat in early morning hours amid volatility. At 9.45 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was marginally up 26 points to 66,034. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty was trading at 19,675, up 1.45 per cent.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Bajaj twins, Maruti, Asian Paints, UltraCemco, JSW Steel were among early gainers. On the downside, L&T, Infosys, HCL, ITC, Wipro, TCS, HCL emerged losers.

Among specific stocks, Bajaj Finance’s shares rose 2.5 per cent per cent as board is set to convene a meeting on October 5 to consider raising funds via a qualified institutional placement (QIP). Shares of Delta Corp, the casino operator, crashed 10 per cent after it got a tax notice, demanding Rs 11,140 crore in taxes, interest, and penalties for the period July 2017 to March 2022.

 

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were outperforming the indices with gains of 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

Sectorally, several indices were trading flat. The Nifty Financial Services index was up 0.3 per cent, followed by the Nifty Auto index (up 0.2 per cent), while the Nifty IT index declined 0.3 per cent.

In the previous session on Friday, the BSE Sensex was down 221 points at 66,009.15, while the NSE Nifty50 declined 68.10 points to 19,674.25. 

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have pulled out over Rs 10,000 crore from Indian equities in the first three weeks of September. "Sustained FII selling has been a drag on the market in recent days," said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were quoting in the negative territory while Tokyo traded in the green. The US markets ended lower on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.21 per cent to $93.47 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,326.74 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated by 16 paise to 83.10 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, taking cues from subdued equity market sentiment and a firm American currency against major rivals overseas. Withdrawal of foreign funds from domestic equities and upward movement in crude oil prices also weighed on the Indian currency, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened weak at 83.04 and hit the lowest level of 83.10 against the greenback, registering a fall of 16 paise from its previous close. On Friday, the rupee gained 19 paise to close at 82.94 against the dollar.