Sensex, Nifty Open Flat With Negative Bias

The Indian equity markets opened flat with negative bias on Tuesday, October 5 mainly due to profit booking after a sharp rally witnessed in the previous session. Experts however feel that the markets will react to the upcoming earnings session with top IT companies set to announce their results in the coming days.

At 10:01 AM, the BSE Sensex was down 143.54 points at 59,155.78, while the Nifty-50 was down 34.50 points at 17,656.75. In the 30-share pack Sensex, 18 scrips declined, while 12 stocks traded in the green. Shares of Bajaj Finserv, Sun Pharma, and Dr Reddys Labs were the top losers in the index, declining about a per cent each. However, on the flipside, Bharti Airtel, Power Grid Corp, and Maruti Suzuki were up over a per cent each.

Sector-wise, except for Banks, IT, and Pharma, all other sectors were trading in the green backed by minimal buying interest in the morning deals. The Nifty Pharma declined close to a per cent, dragged by shares of Cipla and Sun Pharma as the counters shed over a per cent each. On the flipside, energy stocks were in major focus as the index was up over one per cent led by shares of ONGC(+6.20 per cent), GAIL(+3.25 per cent), and Tata Power (+3.17 per cent).

Moving ahead, October will be a month of events as the markets will react to the RBI Monetary Policy Meeting, scheduled from October 6 - October 8. Furthermore, the strong IPO pipeline wherein more than Rs 20,000 crore is expected from the primary markets and the upcoming earnings session will be keenly tracked by investors.

Speaking on the RBI policy and earnings session, Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited, said, "RBI is expected to maintain its policy rates but it may lay the roadmap for stimulus tapering in line with other central banks. TCS would mark the start of Q3FY22 earnings season which is expected to continue the strong earnings momentum."

In the overall market breadth, 1124 shares advanced and 610 shares declined in NSE at the time of filing.