Sensex in narrow range; TCS, ONGC, Tata Power move up

Indian equity benchmarks remained in a narrow range around their previous closing values. The market seemed to be priced in weak global cues and yesterday's less than expected measures announced by the RBI. It may still be hoping that the government will announce more measures to boost economic growth.

The BSE benchmark was down 31 points to 16,851.27 and the NSE benchmark declined 9 points to 5,106.10. The broader markets too were flat.

According to Gaurav Doshi of Morgan Stanley Private Wealth, India is currently dealing with three major domestic issues currency, liquidity and policy. Since global cues remain uncertain, he says all eyes are going to be on the domestic front.

“I think the global situation is pretty much assumed to be a muddle through situation for right now, and therefore all eyes are on the domestic front as to what we get from the government in terms of policy initiatives and what sort of progress we see on that front,” he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

FMCG majors ITC and HUL were down 0.9% and 1.7%, respectively.

Country's second largest software services exporter Infosys fell 1.3% whereas its rival TCS gained 1%.

Among metals stocks, Tata Steel and Sterlite Industries dropped over 1%.

Top private sector lender ICICI Bank went down 0.37% while its rival HDFC Bank was up 0.4%. Top lender State Bank of India stayed flat.

Engineering and construction major by sales Larsen & Toubro declined 0.4%.

However, state-owned oil & gas producer ONGC advanced 1.4% and private power producer Tata Power jumped nearly 2%.

Defensives like (healthcare) Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Labs gained 1%.

In the second line shares, Jain Irrigation, Sun TV and GATI were up 3-5%.