Sensex, Nifty remain sluggish; Bajaj Auto up 1%, BHEL down

Moneycontrol Bureau11:30 am Interview: Relaxing FDI norms in the defence sector is a move towards attracting more technology and the Ministry of Defence has come out with a list of technologies that India needs at this point in time, maintains JD Patil of L&T Defence. He further said that any technology within the official document can come to India under the new FDI route. "FII funds flows have always been petty in India, being nowhere close to a significant sum because of the controlled regime. We need defence modernisation and opening doors to FIIs will help us get more such technology," Patil adds.  He is not bullish on big investments for he believes that the technology ownership hardly remains with the Indian company but with the government of that company. Don't miss: Nomura cautious on ITC cigarette biz growth but sees volume boost in FY17

The market refuses to budge ahead as profit booking continues. The Sensex is down 58.93 points or 0.2 percent at 26807.99 and the Nifty is down 19.15 points or 0.2 percent at 8219.35. About 1223 shares have advanced, 873 shares declined, and 164 shares are unchanged.

Bajaj Auto, M&M, ONGC, ICICI Bank and Adani Ports while NTPC, BHEL, Asian Paints, Cipla and Axis Bank are losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices fell today, snapping two days of gains, ahead of a report on US crude inventories and the British referendum on whether to stay in the European Union.Worries that Britons will vote to leave on Thursday has frayed nerves, and global investment titans Li Ka-shing and George Soros warned of economic doom if the country leaves bloc.

Traders are also waiting for the weekly US crude inventories report due tomorrow to gauge demand in the world's top oil consuming nation, as well as a testimony by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen for clues on the timing of a US interest rate increase.