Sensex, Nifty flat for 2nd consecutive day; banks down

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty started off trade on a flat note for the second consecutive session after rising more than 5.5% since last week. The market has been in a consolidation mode ahead of big events like inflation today, Greece election on Sunday and RBI mid-quarter policy review on Monday.

The BSE benchmark rose just 17.33 points to 16,897.84 and the NSE benchmark was up 1.75 points at 5,123.20.

Banks were seeing profit booking after rallied since last week on rate cut hopes. PNB, SBI, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were under pressure.

However, Coal India, Maruti, ITC, Tata Motors, M&M, ONGC, Tata Steel, Cairn India and Reliance Industries were on buyers' radar. 

The broader markets were flat and the market breadth was neutral.

In the second line shares, RCF, NFL and Chambal Fertiliser were up 3.5-4.5% after CNBC-TV18 reported quoting sources that CCEA (in a meeting today) will consider proposal for urea price hike of 10%. Cormandel International rose 1.5%.

Hotel Leela was up 2% after The Financial Express reported that lenders allowed Hotel Leela to rejig Rs 4,300 crore debt.

Moser-Baer rallied 4.5% as the company is mulling restructuring of FCCBs in near future. FCCBs issued in 2007 are due for maturity on June 21.

UB Holdings continued to rally, rising 4.5% after gaining 20% yesterday.

Parsvnath Developers, Indiabulls Power, Sun TV, Great Offshore, IVRCL and Voltas gained 1-3%.

However, Canara Bank and Bank of Maharashtra were down 2-3%. 

On the global front, Asian markets too were rangebound, even after ongoing eurozone concerns and weak US data yesterday. All eyes are on euro 4.5 billion Italian auction of longer dated paper today.