Markets open flat, Bharti Airtel up 2%

Indian markets have opened on a flat note after an extremely eventful day yesterday. The Sensex and Nifty are both seen trading marginally down.

Other Asian markets are trading flat at the moment. All the 3 major Chinese and Japanese indices are trading with marginal losses. However, the Taiwanese index has gained by few points.

Earlier, the European stocks ended with marginal gains. Dow Jones closed with marginal losses and NASDAQ gained 11 points. The data showed that US jobless claims have dropped, indicating some positives in the US economy. The announcement of the US employment data later today will be a key trigger for the global markets.

Benchmark Indices
Index	Rate	% Change
Hang Seng	20,719.23	-0.10
Nikkei	8,860.63	-0.18
Shanghai	2,310.87	-0.07
Sensex	17,423.87	-0.05
Nifty	5,266.20	-0.07

Among the sectoral indices, HC, Power and CD are seen in gains by over 0.5%. Most of the other indices are trading in a flat range. Oil & Gas, Realty, Bankex and Metals, on the other hand, are down by a few points.

17 of the Sensex stocks are seen trading in the positive territory. After yesterday’s robust gains, Bharti Airtel has advanced further by 2.68%. In the Auto space, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp and Mahindra & Mahindra are in the positive, while Tata Motors is seen in the losers list. Energy stocks such as Tata Power, Coal India, GAIL India, NTPC and ONGC have also gained by 0.25%-1.5%. Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries and Jindal Steel are the frontline losers. SBI is seen in losers list for the 2nd consecutive day after yesterday’s ruling with regard to the telecom licenses.

Telecom stocks are seen under pressure. Among the majors, Tata Teleservices, Tata Communication, MTNL, Tulip Telecom and Idea Cellular are seen down by a few points. Unitech has gained marginally after a clarification that the company filed with the stock exchange.

Marico has surged by about 5% after it announced its quarterly numbers. Wockhardt is also up by 4.8% so far today. At the moment, Biocon is seen on the investors' radar, and the stock is up by 11 points or 4.17%.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is marginally positive. Out of a total of 2465 stocks, 1451 stocks advanced and 936 stocks declined. 78 stocks remained unchanged.

We expect the markets to remain volatile ahead today. There might be profit booking at the end of the day.