Sensex, Nifty flat; SBI falls 1%, Cap Goods index slips

Moneycontrol Bureau11:45 am  Interview: The National Highways Authority of India is confident of awarding 5000 kilometers of road projects in FY16, its Chairman Raghav Chandra tells CNBC-TV18. He expects the government to increase budgetary allocation to roads by 10 percent the coming year, and says the process of project approvals has improved. NHAI spent Rs 33,000 crore on road projects this year so far, an increase of 60 percent year-on-year. NHAI plans to issue another Rs 5000 crore worth of bonds in FY16, Chandra says. He says NHAI has acquired around 9000 hectares so far in FY16, adding that the land acquisition cost has gone up.11:30 am Budget 2016: Dipen Sheth, head of institutional research at HDFC Securities feels that maintaining fiscal discipline is critical for the government despite the current pain. Sheth says there is a storm brewing outside as well as inside India and this year is going to be volatile. Times are tough and the temptation to take few liberties on fiscal targets is high, but it would not be a good option, he adds. Pointing out the decline in savings rate in our economy to 30 percent from 35 percent, he says it is more like punishing savers, adding, "The more you punish savers, the more you postpone your pains into the future."Don't miss: UB Holdings tanks 10%; PNB declares it as willful defaulter

The market is flat as the Sensex is down 39.26 points or 0.2 percent at 23514.86. The Nifty is down 20.45 points or 0.3 percent at 7142.50. About 955 shares have advanced, 1215 shares declined, and 101 shares are unchanged.

Adani Ports, NTPC, ONGC, Dr Reddy's Labs and Bharti Airtel are top gainers while L&T, SBI, ICICI Bank, M&M and Sun Pharma are losers in the Sensex.

Gold stretched its losses into a third session and tumbled below USD 1,200 an ounce on Tuesday, as easing concerns over the global economy buoyed stocks and hurt safe-haven demand for the metal. Bullion's three-day loss of more than 4 percent, its biggest such drop in seven months, takes the precious metal further away from a one-year high reached last week and threatens to undo a rally that has seen prices gain 13 percent so far this year.

Goldman Sachs's recommendation to short gold, prompted by the bank's belief that the recent fear-induced rally has been overdone, added to the bearish sentiment in the market.