Sensex remains flat; retail, rice stocks on buyers' radar

Indian equity benchmarks remained volatile, but the midcap and smallcap stocks were on buyers' radar. European markets opened flat ahead of European Central Bank meet later in the day today. Market experts feel the central bank may cut rate by 25 basis points.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 28 points to 17,490.62 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 5.4 points to 5,307.95.

Index heavyweights like oil & gas producer Reliance Industries, cigarette major ITC and private sector lender ICICI Bank moved up over 0.7%.

Shares of Jindal Steel and Cipla topped the buying list, rising 2% each. Engineering and construction major by sales Larsen & Toubro and top lender State Bank of India advanced 0.4% each.

State-owned power equipment manufacturer BHEL jumped 1.3%. Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra and top car maker Maruti Suzuki gained 0.6%.

The fall in shares of TCS, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors and ONGC (down 1.2%) has limited the upside.

The Indian rupee was quite choppy in trade ahead of ECB meeting, which declined 50 paise to 54.98 against the dollar.

Retail stocks were trading sharply higher after sources said Congress ruled states to go ahead with foreign direct investment in retail sector. Shoppers Stop rose 10% and Pantaloon Retail gained 5%.

Rice stocks were on buyers' radar after the Indian government has removed minimum export price of basmati rice. KRBL, Kohinoor Foods and LT Foods were up 9-13%.