Markets flat in opening trade

New Delhi: The markets were flat in the opening trade but still trading in the green with some marginal gains. Buying has seen in oil, technology, auto, and some telecom stocks while selling pressure in cement, metal, power and banking stocks.

At 0958 hrs (IST) the Sensex was down 41 points at 15,709 and the Nifty down 14 points at 4740. However, the CNX Midcap was up 1 point at 6232.

HUL, ICICI Bank BHEL, Sterlite and Cairn were the gainers while losers - ACC, Grasim, SAIL, Tata Steel, Reliance Energy and Tata Power.

On the primary market front, Gammon Infrastructure has listed at Rs 180 on the BSE and Rs 170 on NSE as against its issue price of Rs 167.

Asian markets were trading firm. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.09 per cent or 11.35 points at 13,200.71. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.62 per cent or 147.33 points at 24,019.76. Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.43 per cent or 13.31 points at 3,137.92. South Korea's Seoul Composite advanced 0.65 per cent or 11.26 points at 1,753.45. However ,Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted was down 0.07 per cent or 5.75 points at 8,599.57.

Wall Street fell for the first time in three days after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged that the nation may be in a recession and higher fuel prices snuffed out a rally in retailers. The Dow Jones industrials slipped 48.53 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 12,605.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 2.65 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 1,367.53, the Nasdaq composite index dropped 1.35 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 2,361.40.

Market cues:

• FIIs net sell $294.5 m in equity.
• MFs net sell Rs 284.7 cr in equity.
• NSE F&O Open Interest down by Rs 1,342 crore at Rs 51,241 crore.

F&O cues:

• Futures Open Interest down by Rs 2,139 crore and Options Open Interest up by Rs 797 crore.
• Nifty Futures shed 45 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• Nifty Open Interest Put-Call ratio unchanged at 1.25.
• Nifty Puts add 8 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• Nifty Calls add 6.3 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• Nifty 4500 Put adds 3 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• Nifty 4600 Put adds 2.3 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• Nifty 4700 Put adds 1.6 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• Nifty 5200 Call adds 3.2 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• Nifty 5000 Call adds 3.1 lakh shares in Open Interest.
• Stock Futures shed 40 lakh shares in Open Interest.

(With moneycontrol.com inputs)