Sensex flat, Wockhardt down 9.5% on US FDA alert

The Indian markets opened continued to remain volatile in early Wednesday morning trade, after witnessing a sell-off in the previous session.

The volatility is also on the back of November series expiry on Thursday. The Sensex is down 7.95 points at 20,417.07, and the Nifty is down 3.90 points at 6,055.20.

Caution is likely to prevail ahead of the expiry of November derivatives contracts on Thursday and GDP and fiscal deficit data due on Friday.

[caption id=“attachment_1223637” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Reuters.[/caption]

Neelkanth Mishra of Credit Suisse is positive on the stocks that benefit from low-end consumption like ITC, Emami , Marico and Godrej Consumers. “We are also positive on Maruti and believe it is best placed among carmakers to withstand the sustained slowdown in middle-income consumption,” he told CNBC-TV18.

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The rupee is trading at 62.33 per dollar vs previous close of 62.50/51

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Alpari India feels the rupee will be rangebound today with a slight negative bias owing to a weak equity market and strong month-end dollar demand by oil marketing companies and other importers.

Among the global markets, the Dow ended flat on Tuesday, still closing at a record high and the Nasdaq cleared 4,000 for the first time in 13 years lifted by better than expected housing data. However, mixed earnings reports dragged the European markets lower. Meanwhile, Asian markets were unable to carry the overnight US momentum and the Nikkei slipped in early trade today.

Stocks in news:

USFDA have issued an import alert on Wockhardt Chikalthana plant. Stocks of Wockhardt fell 9.5% following the alert.

The top Sensex losers are Sun Pharma (down 1.2 percent), HDFC Bank and Coal India (down 0.5 percent)

Reliance Industries is up 0.71 percent. Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily said yesterday he is confident of resolving the issue of securing USD 135 million in bank guarantees from Reliance Industries within a fortnight to enable the company to charge higher gas price from April 1.

Tata Motors is up nearly 1 percent, ICICI Bank is up 0.6 percent.