Sensex snaps 5-day gains, falls 108 points; BSE Metal down 3%

11 Mar 2014

Equity benchmarks snapped five-day winning streak Tuesday with the Sensex losing over 100 points weighed down by profit booking in metals and index heavyweights.

The Sensex was down 108.41 points to close at 21826.42 while the Nifty fell 25.35 points to 6511.90, which touched an intraday low of 6494.25.

The market saw profit booking (cum-consolidation) today after seeing pre-election rally of nearly 1000 points in last five consecutive sessions to reach psychological 22000-mark on the Sensex.

Manishi Raychaudhury of BNP Paribas Securities said an expectation of a strong prime minister in the 16th Lok Sabha may have added to the positive sentiment and 2014 can turn out to be a year of exceptional returns .

He, however, cautions that along with hope, there has to be sign of fundamental improvement as well.

Meanwhile, BNP Paribas has upgraded India to overweight (from underweight) based on opportunities in technology, consumer staples and discretionaries, financials and telecoms.

On the economic data front, India's trade deficit recorded its steepest fall since September 2013 in the month of February to USD 8.13 billion from USD 14.12 billion in the year-ago period and USD 9.92 in January, helped by sharp decline in oil and non-oil imports.

The market will closely watch January industrial output and February CPI inflation data scheduled to be announced on Wednesday evening.

Metal stocks saw heavy selling pressure on fears of China slowdown and fall in iron ore prices in international market. The BSE Metal Index lost 3.44 percent.

Shares of Tata Steel crashed 5.5 percent while Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco Industries were down 3.6 percent each.

Top lenders like State Bank of India and HDFC Bank declined 1 percent each whereas rival ICICI Bank gained 0.4 percent.

Auto stocks, which were also participated in the rally, lost ground. Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra, top car maker Maruti Suzuki and two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto slipped 1-2.7 percent. However, Tata Motors bucked the trend, rising 0.6 percent.

Major largecaps like Reliance Industries, ITC, Larsen & Toubro and Bharti Airtel declined between 0.7-1.2 percent.

Healthcare major Sun Pharma lost further, down 2.6 percent in addition to 2.6 percent loss in previous session.

However, Tata Power outperformed with over 4 percent gains in the Sensex. Media reports indicated that Tata and BSES distribution companies are set to get Rs 8,000 crore boost as Delhi power regulator works out a plan to liquidate past dues. Reliance Infrastructure surged 5 percent.

Declining shares outpaced advancing ones by a ratio of 1535 to 1232 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

03:40 pm Market closing
After a choppy session, the market snapped 5-day gaining streak. The Sensex lost 109 points to end at 21826.42, and the Nifty was down 25.35 points at 6511.90. About 1239 shares advanced, 1529 shares declined, and 172 shares were unchanged.

Tata Power was star of the day with a gain of 4 percent as the appellate tribunal has permited the Delhi electricity regulator to pass an order on distribution companies licence cancellation. The appellate tribunal also directed DERC, BSES to solve regulatory asset liquidation roadmap.

ONGC, HUL, Tata Motors and BHEL were other gainers in the Sensex.

Metal stocks were biggest losers today on weakness in global commodity prices after disappointing China data.

03:30 pm Buzzing
Indian Hotels Comp fell as much as 1.7 percent intraday on likely non-cash provision in the quarter ended March 2014.

The company says it expects an additional non-cash provision in respect of its investments / financial exposures in the standalone statement of profit & loss of around Rs 400 crore and a provision of around Rs 100 crore in the consolidated statement of profit & loss for the year ending on March 31, 2014.

"The impairment is primarily due to a sustained depression in the macroeconomic and market environment internationally, as also in the domestic market, and the adverse effect thereof on some of the investments. With the economic uncertainty expected to continue over the near and medium term, it has had an impact on the downward revision of projected cash flow expectations from some of the underlying affected investments," the company elaborated.

03:20 pm New hire
FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) on Tuesday said CFO Sridhar Ramamurthy will be elevated as Senior Vice President Finance at parent Unilever from July 1. Ramamurthy, presently Executive Director Finance & IT and Chief Financial Officer of HUL, has been appointed Senior Vice President Finance for Global Markets, HUL said in a BSE filing.

"He will be part of the Global Markets Executive of Unilever and based in London," the company said. PB Balaji, presently Vice President of Finance at Unilever Americas Supply Chain Company, will succeed Ramamurthy as Executive Director Finance & IT and CFO.

03:10 pm Optimism
India has emerged as the most optimistic nation in terms of hiring plans for the next three months and sectors such as aviation, IT & ITeS and retail are likely to see an increase in payrolls.

According to the Employment Outlook Survey released today by workforce solutions major ManpowerGroup, 41 per cent of the surveyed Indian employers are expected to add to their staff levels in second-quarter of this calendar year.

"Government initiatives, increased industry participation, rise of start-up ventures and emergence of India as an investment destination are some of the key factors that have fuelled the economy's growth," ManpowerGroup India Group managing director A G Rao said.

02:59pm Sobha Developers sees strong Q4
The fourth quarter has started reasonably well for most developers, said JC Sharma, vice-chairman and managing director of Sobha Developers. He expects his firm to do better in this quarter, compared to the previous one.

Sharma said that the quality of customers, even the NRI base, has remained stable and is growing. ''Customers now are not asking for price reductions,'' he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

''We have been averaging around Rs 6,300 per sq ft realisations so far. Recently, we launched 1.5 million sq ft of one large project in Bangalore. We plan to launch in next two weeks two more projects. We are entering into new city in Kochin in next 10 days' time. We are also launching one more project in Calicut,'' he said.

Sharma believes the momentum will continue going forward and the company will be able to achieve what it has in the first three quarters.

''Since inflationary pressures currently are not that great, so we are hopeful that we would be able to manage our margins,'' he said.

02:50pm Godrej Properties remains on buyers' radar
Shares of Godrej Properties gained 3 percent after the company has entered into an agreement with Godrej and Boyce (G&B) to develop a new project on the latter's property on the Eastern Express Highway, Vikhroli, Mumbai.

The Mumbai-based real estate developer said the potential saleable area in this project would be up to 8 lakh square feet and was likely to comprise of premium residences as well as a small component of convenience retail.

Godrej Properties will act as development manager and will work with G&B on the conceptualisation, design, sales, and marketing of the project. For its services, the company will receive a fee equal to 10 percent of the total revenue generated from the development.

02:45pm Nifty breaks 6500
The 50-share NSE Nifty breached the 6,500 level for the first time today, falling 42.15 points to 6495.10. The Sensex declined 153.17 points to 21781.66.

Decliners beat advancers by a ratio of 1556 to 1117 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Tata Power extended gains to 5 percent whereas Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries fell more than 4 percent. Bank of Baroda, Sun Pharma and Sea Sterlite slipped 3 percent.

02:40pm Indian Hotels under pressure
Company expects an additional non-cash provision in respect of its investments / financial exposures in the standalone statement of profit & loss of around Rs 400 crore and a provision of around Rs 100 crore in the consolidated statement of profit & loss for the year ending on March 31, 2014.

02:30pm Market Expert
The run in the stock market has been mainly led by cyclicals, with investors trimming down positions in defensives such as pharma, IT along with auto and auto ancillaries, says Dhananjay Sinha of Emkay Global. He says the market is right now favouring capital goods, banking, construction and real estate stocks.

Sinha expects to see rebound in growth and consolidation in markets post favourable election results.

''The rally, if you look at it in terms of composition, has started after the election dates were announced. Earlier on the market was still buoyant, but it was supported by some of the sectors, which showed growth and the so-called defensive names. So, there does seem to be a shift that has happened over the last one week,'' he told the channel.

02:20pm JK Lakshmi Cement speaks to CNBC-TV18
JK Lakshmi Cement expects average capacity utilisation for the company in the markets it operates to be around 82-83 percent, said Wholetime Director Shailendra Chouksey, in an interview to CNBC-TV18. However, for the ongoing quarter the company has been operating at 100 percent utilisation.

All the expansion plans undertaken by the company so far are on track, and expects the first production from the Durg plant to hit market by October 2014. The company is confident of upping the total capacity from current 5 million tones to 10 million tones (mt) by end of FY15, said Chouksey.

According to him the demand-supply scenario for the cement industry has improved of late; especially demand has seen an improvement since January 2014.

02:10pm Trade deficit in February shrinks
India's trade deficit recorded its steepest fall since September 2013 in the month of February to USD 8.13 billion from USD 14.12 billion in the year ago period and USD 9.92 in January, helped by sharp decline in oil and non-oil imports.

Imports recorded a steep 17 percent fall year-on-year signalling that government's efforts at containing deficit has paid off.

In January, imports dropped 18.07 percent to USD 36.6 billion, its sharpest decline in the preceding four months. However, a fall in February exports after seven months of consecutive growth somewhat marred the achievement.

02:00pm The profit taking continued in afternoon trade with the Sensex losing around 100 points after a 1000-point rally in previous five consecutive sessions.

The Sensex declined 105.95 points to 21828.88 and the Nifty fell 23.90 points to 6513.35. About 1154 shares have advanced, 1459 shares declined, and 173 shares are unchanged.

Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel maintained top position in the selling list of Sensex stocks, falling 4 percent each followed by Sesa Sterlite with 2.7 percent loss.

Healthcare major Sun Pharma and utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra slipped 2.9 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.

Shares of ITC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, GAIL, State Bank of India and Bharti Airtel declined 0.4-1.7 percent.

However, Tata Power topped the buying list, rising 3.55 percent. Media reports suggest that the company and BSES distribution companies are set to get Rs 8,000 crore boost as Delhi power regulator works out a plan to liquidate past dues.

Tata Motors and Axis Bank gained 1 percent each while Infosys, ICICI Bank and Dr Reddy's Labs climbed 0.5 percent each.

State-run capital goods major BHEL continued its run, marching towards the Rs 200 level. The stock gained 1.7 percent.

2:00 pm Is it true? Major telecom player Vodafone Group Plc's India arm has been accused by the Union Home Ministry of secretly sharing subscriber data with a British intelligence and security organisation, a charge denied by the company, reports PTI.

According to documents of the Internal Security Division of the Home Ministry, Vodafone Group Plc is alleged to have given the UK-based Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) "secret unlimited access to their network of under sea cables, which carry much of world's phone calls and Internet traffic".

"GCHQ's mass tapping operations has been built up over the past five years by attaching intercept probes to the transatlantic cables where they land on British shores," the home ministry documents claimed.

1:50 pm View on rupee: Analysts are growing increasingly bullish about the rupee in the near-term on the back of a sharply narrower current account deficit, easing inflation, and strong foreign investor inflows.

Barclays on Tuesday cut its one-month dollar/rupee (USD/INR) forecast to 59 from 61, with a stop loss at 62.50.

That would now place Barclays as the most optimistic among the 25 respondents to a Reuters poll which was released on Friday showing the median forecast at 62, wherein Barclays was still maintaining its forecast at 61.

Technically, USD/INR remains well below its 200-day moving average after first breaching that trend level on Thursday for the first time since May 2013, adding to the optimism on the rupee.

1:40 pm FII view: Although equity indices have crossed all time high levels, volatility index have risen indicating a bumpy ride ahead. But the rally, hope run for all, is not showing any sign of tiring out. In addition, the rupee has appreciated to 60.84 against the dollar, its highest level since August 6 of 2013. Till September 2013, the Indian rupee was the worst performing currency among the 'fragile five'. For those who have missed the bus, all these factors could be a big temptation to jump on the bandwagon, says Manishi Raychaudhury of BNP Paribas.

Chaudhury said the over the longer term, the investing story of India is intact as valuations are reasonable. For the FIIs looking to invest regionally, India remains the safest country as macro-economic concerns have kept China and Korea out of bounds. BNP Paribas has downgraded China and Korea to underweights from neutral and overweight, respectively.

1:30 pm Interview: JK Lakshmi Cement expects average capacity utilisation for the company in the markets it operates to be around 82-83 percent. However, for the ongoing quarter the company has been operating at 100 percent utilisation, said Wholetime Director Shailendra Chouksey in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

According to him the demand-supply scenario for the cement industry has improved of late; especially demand has seen an improvement since January 2014

1:20 pm Buzzing: Shares of Godrej Properties spiked 5.8 percent intraday on Tuesday after the company has entered into an agreement with Godrej and Boyce (G&B) to develop a new project on the latter's property on the Eastern Express Highway, Vikhroli, Mumbai.

The market turned choppy after a flat opening. The Sensex is down 75.00 points at 21859.83, and the Nifty down 15.25 points at 6522.00. About 1124 shares have advanced, 1451 shares declined, and 153 shares are unchanged.

Metal stocks like Tata Steel, Sail and Hindalco are weak, tracking weak global commodity prices post disappointing china data. Sun Pharma, Sesa Sterlite and M&M are top losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Tata Power, Axis Bank, Tata Motors , Dr Reddy's Labs and ICICI Bank.

Tata Power and Reliance Infra are in focus as appellate tribunal lifts stay on DERC to pass order on distribution companies license cancellation. Appellate tribunal also directed DERC, BSES to solve regulatory asset liquidation roadmap.

The rupee continued its winning streak and rose to a fresh seven-month high against the US dollar taking cues from firm Asian currencies and on persistent FII inflows.

Trade deficit for February narrowed to USD 8.13 billion . Exports have fallen after 7 months of consecutive growth. This is the lowest trade deficit since September 2013 .

12:55pm Godrej Properties adds new project in Vikhroli
Shares of Godrej Properties rallied 1.4 percent as the Mumbai-based real estate developer has entered into an agreement with Godrej & Boyce (G&B) to develop a new project on the latter's property on the Eastern Express Highway, Vikhroli, Mumbai.

"The potential saleable area in this project will be up to 8 lakh square feet and is likely to comprise of premium residences as well as a small component of convenience retail," the company said in its filing.

For its services, Godrej Properties will receive a fee equal to 10 percent of the total revenue generated from the development. The costs for design and construction of the development will be borne by Godrej & Boyce in its role as owner-developer while the cost for sales and marketing will be borne by Godrej Properties in its role as development manager.

12:50pm Trade deficit narrows in February
Tade deficit narrowed at USD 8.13 billion in February as against USD 9.92 billion in January and USD 14.12 billion in a year-ago period.

Imports declined 17 percent year-on-year (down 7.8 percent sequentially) to USD 33.81 billion while exports slipped 3.7 percent on yearly basis (down 4 percent month-on-month) to USD 25.68 billion.

Trade deficit during April-February period also narrowed at USD 128.08 billion versus USD 179.93 billion in corresponding month of last year.

12:45pm CIMB on Fed tapering
Shane Lee, director - Equity Research, CIMB believes Federal Reserve is likely to continue with its USD 10 billion tapering programme in the FOMC meet next week as the US economy has seen fairly good momentum despite adverse weather conditions.

The Federal Open Market Committee meet on March 17-18, will be the first session under the central bank's new chief, Janet Yellen.

12:35pm Puravankara Projects on buyers' radar
Investors continued to buy shares of Puravankara Projects, the real estate company, as the company received good response for pre-launched Purva Palm Beach in Bengaluru. The stock gains 3 percent today.

"This apartment project, which spread over 19.37 acres, saw an oversubscription of three times with over 1200 applications received as opposed to the units released for allocation during the initial pre-launch stage," the company said in its filing.

Puravankara said it has adopted book building method with a base price of Rs 4,392 per square feet and this offer attracted about 20 percent of buyers from Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

Purva Palm Beach offers buyers the option of 2 BHK and 3 BHK apartments with size ranging between 1232 to 1846 square feet.

12:25pm Bharat Forge talks to CNBC-TV18
An improving performance in the US and European truck markets is expected to provide a boost to Bharat Forge's fourth quarter earnings, the company's executive director Amit Kalyani told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

''In the analyst meet after third-quarter results, we had guided for a flattish fourth quarter,'' Kalyani said. ''It will be better than that. Key drivers for the quarter are the domestic commercial vehicle market, our non-auto business and the European and US truck markets.''

Bharat Forge derives over 60 percent of its revenues from the EU and US markets.

''We are still operating at 60 percent of capacity utilisation. That says that we have tremendous headroom from growth and the business upside could be phenomenal from here,'' Kalyani said.

The stock has had a stellar run rising over 70 percent in the past one year and hitting a 52-week high of Rs 416 on March 6.

12:15pm Market Expert
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Manishi Raychaudhury of BNP Paribas said the over the longer term, the investing story of India is intact as valuations are reasonable. For the FIIs looking to invest regionally, India remains the safest country as macro-economic concerns have kept China and Korea out of bounds. BNP Paribas has downgraded China and Korea to underweights from neutral and overweight, respectively.

He agreed that expectation of a strong prime minister in the 16th Lok Sabha may have added to the positive sentiment and 2014 can turn out to be a year of exceptional returns. He, however, cautions that along with hope, there has to be sign of fundamental improvement as well. Almost any government can potentially make the difference by making administrative changes, but right of Centre government may be driving the sentiment.

Meanwhile, BNP Paribas has upgraded India to overweight (from underweight) based on opportunities in technology, consumer staples and discretionaries, financials and telecoms.

12:00pm Equity benchmarks see profit booking in noon trade after rising sharply in previous five consecutive sessions. The Sensex declined 69.94 points to 21864.89 and the Nifty lost 18.15 points at 6519.10.

Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of 1317 to 1078 on the BSE.

Metals lost ground with the BSE Metal Index falling nearly 3 percent. Shares of Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel plunged over 4 percent while Sesa Sterlite declined nearly 3 percent.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Mahindra & Mahindra slipped 2-2.5 percent.

Shares of heavyweights like Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro and ITC lost 0.3-0.7 percent.

However, Tata Power kept its top position in the buying list with 3.5 percent gains. Media reports suggest that the company and BSES distribution companies are set to get Rs 8,000 crore boost as Delhi power regulator works out a plan to liquidate past dues.

Technology and major banks stocks too gained with marginal upmove.

11:55 am FII view: Indian equities will continue to rally on election-related hopes, feels, Masha Gordon, VP & Head of EM Equities, PIMCO. At the same time, PIMCO is bullish on India because of the improvement in the macro-environment, notably the narrowing of the current account deficit.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Gordon says India ranks among key growth markets in the emerging markets space, even though investors are more inclined towards developed markets at this point.

Gordon is hopeful that the new government will restart the investment cycle, which in turn will revive the economy.

PIMCO does not have any position in IT stocks currently, but Gordon says she is open to buying them if they correct around 20 percent.

11:40 am Buzzing: Shares of HMT rallied as much as 10 percent intraday after the government issued a formal sanction for the revival and restructuring plans of the company amounting to Rs 1083.48 crore recommended by cabinet committee on economic affairs.

"The government has issued formal sanction for non-cash assistance in the form of conversion of Government of India loans into equity to the extent of Rs 443.74 crore for which the company has to issue equity shares of equivalent amount to the Government of India," the company said in its filing.

HMT further said, "The Government of India (GoI) has also given the formal sanction of Rs 201.88 crore towards waiver of interest upto March 31, 2012 and Rs 3.76 crore towards waiver of GoI guarantee fee, respectively."

11:30 am Interview: The fourth quarter has started reasonably well for most developers, said JC Sharma, vice-chairman and managing director of Sobha Developers. He expects his firm to do better in this quarter, compared to the previous one.

Post Q3 results, Sobha had revised its FY14 volume guidance to 3.75 million sq ft against 4.2 msf and its sales guidance to Rs 2,400 crore against Rs 2,600 crore earlier (9MYTD sales at Rs 1,740 crore ), owing to a sluggish performance in Gurgaon and Pune.

11:15 am: An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) met to give final shape to the proposed CPSE Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), which will comprise shares of 10 bluechip state-owned firms and solicit retail participation.

"Ten public sector companies will be part of PSU ETF," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reproters after the meeting of the EGoM on CPSE ETF. Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, and Oil Minister Verappa Moliy also attended the EGoM.

A little bit of profit booking is seen in the market. The Sensex is down 54.53 points at 21880.30, and the Nifty is down 15.75 points at 6521.50.

Tata Power maintains its upmove with a gain of 3 percent while TCS and Wipro are among top gainers in the Sensex. Tata Steel loses 4 percent. Other laggards in the Sensex are Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite, M&M and Sun Pharma.

The rupee continued its winning streak and rose to a fresh seven-month high against the US dollar taking cues from firm Asian currencies and on persistent FII inflows. Gilts trade firm on the rupee strength and cautious ahead of the CPI data release tomorrow.

The euro is close to the 2.5-year high it touched on Friday while the yen traded in a narrow range.

Gold prices are firm near USD 1340 per ounce, crude prices saw Brent firm at USD 108 per barrel.

Nikkei is in focus as the Bank of Japan said monetary stimulus would remain in place but downgraded its view of exports given recent weak shipments to Asia.

10:59am Midcaps and smallcaps
In the midcap space, Sobha Developer, eClerx Services, India Tourism, Kaveri Seed and Lakshmi Machine gained 4-6 percent whereas Radico Khaitan, Page Industries, Torrent Pharma, Alembic Pharma and Crompton Greaves lost 3-4 percent.

Among smallcaps, Dalmia Bharat and Vascon Engineer surged 20 percent each. Hanung Toys, HCL Infosystem and OCL India climbed 9-12 percent.

However, Steel Exchange of India, Asian Hotels, Sharon Bio Medicine, Shree Global and Monsanto India slipped 4-10 percent.

10:50am Prime Focus gains 3%
Shares of Prime Focus , the visual entertainment services provider, rallied 3 percent after its subsidiary Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) signed a definitive agreement to acquire DAX.

California-based DAX provides cloud-based production workflow and media asset management applications to the entertainment industry.

PFT bought DAX for a base consideration of USD 9.1 million or Rs 56 crore in a uniquely structured performance linked transaction.

"PFT through its US subsidiary will acquire all the assets of DAX for an upfront payment and with balance payable over three years such that cash flows from the North American operations will support the payment," Prime Focus said in its filing.

10:40am HMT on buyers' radar
HMT said the government has approved Rs 1,083.48 crore for company's revival plan.

"The government will convert Rs 444 crore loans given to company into equity and waives Rs 200 crore interest on loans due up to March 2012," the company said in its filing.

HMT stock rose 3.36 percent to Rs 30.75 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

10:30am Market Expert
Manish Raychaudhari of BNP Paribas Securities says the market may see some degree of consolidation in near-term.

According to him, India is the only liquid market that investors can turn to now. "Investors may see exceptional returns in 2014 and India is likely to outperform other EMs in 2014.

He remains bullish on ICICI Bank and L&T. "The brokerage house recently increased weight on Reliance Industries as it feels the company will benefit from higher petchem margin," he adds.

10:20am Autoline Industries rises for 6th day
Investors have been lapping up shares of Autoline Industries for the sixth consecutive session Tuesday ahead of board members meet for raising funds today. The stock rallied as much as 19.4 percent in six sessions and 9.7 percent today.

"A meeting of the board of directors will be held on March 11 to explore various avenues of raising funds to meet the funding requirements of the company by way of full disinvestment of stock/shares in Autoline Industries Inc, USA," the auto component manufacturer said in its filing.

10:10am FII View
Ralph Acampora of Altaira believes the Sensex is likely to take a bit of breather after the near 9 percent run it has had since last couple of weeks. However, he is quick to add that any dip should be used as a buying opportunity.

Acampora is bullish on both the Indian and the US markets. ''With the trouble going on in the Crimea, it seems like these markets are absorbing that geopolitical crisis up very, very well. Unless something very dramatic happens, I think the momentum will carry both those markets higher,'' he told CNBC-TV18.

10:00am The market gains positive momentum for the sixth consecutive session Tuesday with the Sensex hovering around psychological 22000-mark supported by banks, technology and capital goods stocks.

The Sensex rose 60.58 points to 21995.41 and the Nifty climbed 15.15 points to 6552.40. About 1008 shares have advanced, 719 shares declined, and 102 shares are unchanged.

India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank jumped over 2 percent while its rival State Bank of India advanced 1 percent.

Shares of TCS, Larsen & Toubro, ONGC, Tata Motors, Wipro, BHEL and Cipla gained around 1-1.5 percent.

Tata Power topped the buying list, rising 3.5 percent. Media reports suggest that the company and BSES distribution companies are set to get Rs 8,000 crore boost as Delhi power regulator works out a plan to liquidate past dues.

However, metals stocks lost shine. Tata Steel, Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco Industries plunged 2-3 percent.

Sun Pharma and M&M fell over 1.5 percent. Index heavyweights ITC and Reliance Industries declined 0.6 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

9:55 How to trade rupee? Rajeev Malik of CLSA says he maintains rupee forecast at 65-67 per dollar for March 2015. A favourable outcome of Modi becoming PM will result in an immediate jump in FII inflows, which in turn will strengthen the rupee. However, rupee will likely be tactically checked after a while by RBI's intervention. In the scenario of Modi becoming PM, CLSA may revise March 2015 forecast by 3-5 percent.

9:45 am Market outlook: Ridham Desai, Morgan Stanley says the market is arguing that stocks that are going up and will go up more, and hence it is buying them. Over the past few months, beta, financial leverage and capex were the key factors making money for investors. While these factors took a pause in February, the market's mood remains aggressive, as momentum tops the list of alpha generating factors.

9:35 am Buzzing: Shares of Prime Focus, the visual entertainment services provider, rallied 5 percent as its subsidiary Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) signed a definitive agreement to acquire DAX.

California-based DAX provides cloud-based production workflow and media asset management applications to the entertainment industry.

PFT bought DAX for a base consideration of USD 9.1 million or Rs 56 crore in a uniquely structured performance linked transaction.

9:25 am FII views: Bruce Kasman, Chief Economist & Global Head-Research, JPMorgan said: ''Demand is holding up. It is not as strong as it was towards the end of last year but we do not see a problem here. We think you should have faded the bounce at the end of last year, I think you should fade the dip going through now and things are going to be solid, they are going to be differentiated pretty widely across countries and sectors. Solid is probably not good enough for the US where we still have hugely under utilised resources in terms of the labour market. It is not going to be good enough for Janet Yellen to see US growth close to 3 percent.''

John Doyle, Dir-Markets, Tempus said: ''We are in that camp thinking that the Fed will taper USD10 billion a month. I think that ends QE in December. At the same time, we are looking at diverging policy outlooks; we are talking about ending QE here.''

After setting record high, the market has opened on a flat note on Tuesday. The Sensex is up 6.60 points at 21941.43, and the Nifty is up 0.10 points at 6537.35. About 336 shares have advanced, 109 shares declined, and 15 shares are unchanged.

Tata Power is up 3 percent, while SBI, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs and Tata Motors are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Tata Steel, Hindalco, Sun Pharma, Infosys and Sesa Sterlite.

Indian rupee opened flat at 60.79 per dollar on Tuesday as against previous day's closing value of 60.84 a dollar.

The dollar is barely changed against a basket of major currencies, holding steady at 79.752. And the euro trades steady against the dollar at USD 1.3877, not far from a 2-1/2-year peak of USD 1.3915 touched on Friday.

The yen wobbles in a narrow range in early Asian trade as investors awaited the latest policy decision from the Bank Of Japan later in the session.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Alpari India feels the rupee's strong run is likely to continue buoyed by positive dollar inflows into both equity and bond market.

''RBI selling dollars through PSU banks to meet dollar demand from oil marketing companies and other importers is helping rupee strengthen further. However, strong dollar demand at current levels and profit booking may keep the currency under pressure. The range for the day is seen between 60.68-61.20/dollar," he adds.

US stocks declined, on Monday, bringing the S&P 500 down from its latest record, as a deceleration in China's exports had investors fretting about the health of the global economy. The standoff that has Russia trying to take control of Crimea from Ukraine is another potential drag on the stock market.

In commodities, crude prices fell in early on expectations of an increase in stockpiles in the world's biggest oil consumer as cold weather ebbed, reducing demand for heating fuels.

From precious metals space, gold is steady near USD 1,340 an ounce as fears of an economic slowdown in China and Ukraine's geopolitical crisis keep investors seeking safe-haven bullion. In a sign of investor confidence, the world's biggest bullion-backed exchange-traded fund saw its largest inflow in a month on Monday.