Sensex, Nifty open flat; bank shares slump

After a stellar rally on Thursday, the market has opened today on a flat note. The Sensex is up 2.79 points at 20960.60, and the Nifty is down 4.90 points at 6236.20.

Hindalco, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Larsen are major laggards in morning trade. Top gainers in the Sensex are Sesa Sterlite, Tata Power, Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy’s Labs and ITC.

The rupee opened with gains of 12 paise at 61.64 per dollar on Friday as against previous day’s closing of 61.76 per dollar.

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Pramit Brahmbhatt of Alpari feels the sudden euphoria in equity markets will help rupee strengthen further.“However, concerns of early taper will keep a check on its positive momentum,” he adds. According to him, the range for the day is seen between 61.12-62.02/dollar.

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In the global markets, US extended losses into a fifth session as speculation grows that the Fed’s tapering programme could begin sooner than expected. European markets too led lower on Fed concerns and red flags raised by Mario Draghi. Asia is cautious ahead of the key US jobs data today.

Top Sensex losers - Hindalco down 1.3 pct, ICICI down 1 pct, Tata Motors down 0.9 pct

Stocks in news:

Jet Airways in 2. 5 percent. Investor advisory firm SES has once again raised the issue of control in the Jet-Etihad deal and is once again clamouring for an open offer for Jet Airways by Etihad. This comes after the Competition Commission noted in its observation that the deal gives Etihad joint control of Jet’s assets and operations.

Tata Motors is up 0.15 percent. JLR invested 240 million to build new plant in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

BSE bankex is at the bottom among the sectors, down 0.7 percent; IT index is down 0.3 percent