Remaining cautious before the beginning of the quarterly earnings season, the key Indian equity market indices on Thursday opened flat.
The Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had closed at 34,433.07 points on Wednesday, opened higher at 34,471.48 points.
Minutes into trading, it was quoting at 34,440.28 points, up by 7.21 points, or 0.02%.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 51-scrip Nifty, which had closed at 10,632.20 points, was quoting at 10,631.15 points, down by 1.05 points or 0.01%.
Two equity indices -- Sensex and Nifty50 -- slipped into red as investors turned cautious ahead of the start of the quarterly earnings result season on January 11.
According to market observers, broadly negative global cues and heavy selling pressure in consumer durables, auto and banking stocks added to the downward trajectory of the key indices.
On BSE gainers were Bharti Airtel trading at Rs 513.50 per piece up 1.41%, Kotak Mahindra Bank at Rs 1015.55 per piece up 1.37%, Tata Motors at Rs 436 per piece up 0.81%, Infosys at Rs 1059.15 per piece up 0.72% and State Bank of India at Rs 302.70 per piece up 0.55%.
Losers on the index involved Axis Bank at Rs 554.60 per piece down 1.41%, Wipro at Rs 321.95 per piece (1.26%), Coal India at Rs 304.55 per piece (1.15%), ICICI Bank at Rs 308.95 per piece (0.98%) and TCS at Rs 2786.05 per piece (0.98%).
After touching the day's high of Rs 1748.20 per piece, IndusInd Bank was trading negative at Rs 1729.25 down by Rs 5 or 0.27%. The bank will be in focus as it will be announcing third quarter result for the financial year 2017-18 (FY18).
The Sensex was down by 10.12 points or 0.03% at the Wednesday`s closing.
In the day`s trade, the barometer 30-scrip sensitive index had touched a high of 34,565.63 points and a low of 34,311.63 points.
The Nifty too, was down by 4.80 points or 0.05%.
On Thursday, Asian indices were mostly showing a negative trend.
Japan`s Nikkei 225 was trading in red, down by 0.34%, Hang Seng down by 0.08% while South Korea`s Kospi was also down by 0.42%.
China`s Shanghai Composite index was quoting in red, down by 0.30%.
Nasdaq closed in red, down by 0.14% while FTSE 100 was up by 0.23% at the closing on Wednesday.
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