Nifty hovers around 7850, Sensex flat; Tata Steel up, auto drags

Moneycontrol Bureau10:55 am Inflation poll: Higher food and fuel prices probably nudged India's annual inflation up to 5.0 percent in April from 4.83 percent in March, according to a Reuters poll, making it harder for the central bank to follow up last month's interest rate cut too swiftly.

"The central bank has to be confident of hitting the 5 percent target next year before deciding on easing further," said Rishi Shah, economist at Deloitte.

Shah expects inflation to rise to 5.20 percent in April, though the median forecast from the survey of 27 economists was 5.0 percent.

10:30 am Market outlook: The Indian economy is a "lone bright star" in the global setup, aided by structural factors and a reform-minded government, says Dipen Sheth, Head of Institutional Equities, HDFC Securities. "If you're not gung-ho on India now, when will you be," he asked in an interview with CNBC-TV18. Sheth also discussed many investment ideas that mainly revolved around the rural sector, which he said look solid for the next few years, should the monsoons not play truant this year. Stocks he is positive on include rural NBFCs Chola and M&M Financial Services , agri-chemical firms Coromandel, Rallis, UPL as well as "boring large-cap" play Hero MotoCorp .Don't miss: Zee Ent Q4 net seen up 18%, ad revenue growth likely at 23% 

The market seems to be quite with the Nifty hovering around 7850 mark. The 50-share index is down 7.40 points at 7858.65. The Sensex is down 7.45 points at 25681.41. About 946 shares have advanced, 711 shares declined, and 92 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's Labs, Tata Steel, HUL, Lupin and Axis Bank are top gainers while Tata Motors, Hindalco, M&M, ONGC and Bajaj Auto were losers in the Sensex.

Ujjivan Financial Services was listed at the exchanges at Rs 231.90 per share up, 10.4 percent over its issue price of Rs 210 per share. Price band for microfinance player's offer was fixed at Rs 207-210 and was open for subscription from April 28-May 2.

The Rs 885-crore IPO of Ujjivan Financial Services was oversubscribed nearly 41 times earlier this month.

Ujjivan's issue comprised fresh issuance of shares worth Rs 358.16 crore and an offer for sale of up to 24,968,332 shares by the existing shareholders.