Sensex, Nifty flat; L&T, Adani, Cipla top gainers

Moneycontrol Bureau9:55 am Market check: The Sensex is up 23.83 points or 0.1 percent at 24894.52, and the Nifty up 11.20 points or 0.1 percent at 7574.75. About 1191 shares have advanced, 552 shares declined, and 66 shares are unchanged.L&T, Adani Ports, Cipla, Lupin and Wipro are top gainers in the Sensex. ICICI Bank, Hero, GAIL and Coal India are losers.

9:45 am FPI data: Overseas investors pulled out more than Rs 11,000 crore from the Indian stock markets in January - the highest net outflow in five months - on global growth worries and decline in oil prices. However, these investors continue to remain bullish on the Indian debt market and invested a net amount of Rs 2,313 crore during the period. According to a data available with depositories, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) infused a gross amount of Rs 70,742 crore into equity markets, while pulling out Rs 81,868 crore during the same period, resulting in a net outflow of Rs 11,126 crore (USD 1.65 billion).9:30 am Result poll: Tech Mahindra is likely to report mute December quarter earnings. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, the IT company's net profit may slip 3.6 percent at Rs 757 crore in Q3FY16 from Rs 785.6 crore on sequential basis. Its dollar revenue is likely to be  marginally up 0.9 percent at USD 1020 million versus USD 1011 million while rupee revenue may jump 1.7 percent at Rs 6728 crore versus Rs 6616 crore quarter-on-quarter.

Revenue growth in Q3 is seen at 1 percent while constant currency growth may be at 1.5 percent. 

In Q3, EBIT is seen at Rs 956 crore against Rs 903.7 crore and EBIT percentage at 14.2 percent versus 13.65 percent (QoQ).

Don't miss: Budget session: Cong likely to call meeting of oppn parties

The market has opened on a flat note. The Sensex is up 38.58 points at 24909.27, and the Nifty is up 24.90 points or 0.3 percent at 7588.45. About 506 shares have advanced, 105 shares declined, and 31 shares are unchanged.

L&T, Lupin, BHEL, SBI and Axis Bank are top gainers while Hero, ICICI Bank, ITC, NTPC and Dr Reddy's Labs are losers in the Sensex. 

The rupee opened flat at 67.77 per dollar against Friday's close of 67.78.

Agam Gupta of Standard Chartered said, "The risk sentiment remains positive due to the negative interest rates announced by Bank Of Japan last week. We expect a range of 67.60-67.95/dollar for the USD-INR today."

The dollar rose sharply on Friday, hitting a six-week high versus the yen, after the Bank Of Japan took one of its main interest rates into negative territory and US gross domestic product data largely matched economists' expectations.

Asian shares started a new month on somewhat firmer footing, helped by accommodative monetary policies in Japan and Europe, but traders were cautious ahead of China factory and service sector activity surveys.

A rebound in oil prices last week also helped sentiment, though Brent crude fell about 1 percent in early Asia trade.Oil prices dropped after China and South Korea posted surprisingly weak economic data and on worries the prospect of a coordinated production cut by leading crude exporters seemed remote.