Market benchmarks open on flat note; Sensex at 66,400

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty opened on a flat note in early trade on Tuesday as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve rate decision and busy week of corporate earnings.

Foreign fund outflows and surging crude oil prices also weighed on sentiments.

The 30-share BSE Sensex inched up 13.76 points or 0.02 per cent to 66,398.54.

The broader NSE Nifty advanced 4.40 points or 0.02 per cent to 19,676.75 in early trade.

"Globally markets will be keenly watching the Fed commentary since a 25 bp hike in rate is already known and discounted by the market," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, in his market outlook.

On the domestic front, he said, the expected announcement of quarterly results by some bluechip firms will impact investor sentiment.

A slew of quarterly results are due this week including Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra that will influence stock prices and market sentiments.

"Market is likely to consolidate within a band for now and wait for triggers to move, either up or down," Vijaykumar said.

From the Sensex pack, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors, JSW Steel and Mahindra & Mahindra were major winners, gaining up to 1.81 per cent.

On the other hand, ITC, Tech Mahindra, Asian Paints and Infosys were the laggards, trading with a loss of up to 2.43 per cent.

Of the 30 Sensex stocks, 18 were trading in green while on the 50-stock index Nifty, 34 were in the positive territory.

On Monday, BSE Sensex fell 299.48 points or 0.45 per cent to settle at 66,384.78.

The NSE Nifty fell by 72.65 points or 0.37 per cent to end at 19,672.35. Asian markets were trading in green.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.29 per cent while Hang Seng advanced 3.12 per cent.

European markets finished mixed with the UK's FTSE 100 gaining 0.19 per cent and Germany's DAX rising 0.08 per cent. The CAC 40 of France lost 0.07 per cent. The US markets ended broadly higher on Monday with the S&P 500 registering a gain of 0.40 per cent.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.13 per cent higher at USD 82.85 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were sellers on Monday as they sold equities worth Rs 82.96 crore, according to exchange data.