Sensex flat; Cipla, DRL, HUL lead gainers

Moneycontrol Bureau

Monday market struggles to find a firm footing. Some amount of consolidation though was expected as the street awaits key macroeconomic data this week.

It was flat trading day with a negative bias for the market; the Nifty was struggling to hold 5900 as commodities, select rate sensitives dragged. European markets too opened mixed with negative bias.

The Sensex was down 9.66 points or 0.05% at 19475.11, while the Nifty lost 3.80 points or 0.06% at 5899.70.

Top gainers on the Sensex are Cipla (up 3.6%), Dr Reddy Labs (up 2.3%) and HUL (up 2%). On the losing side are ONGC (ahead of its third quarter earnings), Bharti Airtel and Maruti Suzuki shedding around 1.5%. 

SKS Micro soared up 10% after the company concluded two microfinance securitisation transactions aggregating to Rs 390 crore.

News from auto space is discouraging though. According to SIAM, car sales crashed 12.4% in January to 1.73 lakh units. SIAM says that auto industry will miss all growth forecast projections for FY13. Leaving Tata Motors, other auto majors like Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti and Hero MotoCorp are on the sellers' radar today.

Meanwhile, experts are wary of Indian market as it is poised for further fall. Global guru, Marc Faber is cautious on equities. According to him, a 10% correction is on cards as the market looks overheated now.