Markets open flat; Tata Motors plunges 5%

The Sensex has opened lower by 33 points at 28,817 mark and the Nifty slipped 12 points at 8,696

Markets have commenced the trading session on a flat note tracking mixed trend on the Asian bourses.

The Sensex has opened lower by 33 points at 28,817 mark and the Nifty slipped 12 points at 8,696.

"On Thursday, the Nifty opened on a positive note and managed to trade in-line with the 8,750 mark till pre-lunch hours which was followed by a sharp spurt to push the index above the 8,800 levels to reach its intraday high of 8,838. However, the bulls once again failed to maintain their grip as the index snapped its gains to end in the negative territory for the fifth consecutive session with the loss of 12 points forming a Gravestone doji on daily chart. It has been making the formation of lower lows from the last four sessions," points out a note from Anand Rathi research.

"On the lower side, the index has breached the 8,700 levels recording an intraday low of 8,683 for the first time since 21 January 2015. Now, till it doesn’t negate this formation by not making any new lows, weakness may continue towards next major support of 8,626 levels. On upside if it sustains above 8,800 levels, only then buying interest would emerge towards crucial hurdle of 8,840 zone. Traders are suggested to trade cautiously as market is expected to be volatile ahead of upcoming corporate result and Union Budget 2015," it adds.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 27.43 crore yesterday, 5 February 2015, as per provisional data.

Global markets

Asian equities were mixed on Friday ahead of the closely-watched US jobs report while apprehension about Greece's bailout program also weighed on sentiment.

Higher oil prices were a bright spot for Asian traders; Brent and US crude traded above USD 50 a barrel after rallying 5% overnight. Friday's non-farm payrolls (NFP) report is expected to show the creation of 234,000 jobs in January, according to a Reuters survey of economists, versus 252,000 jobs in December. Major US indices rallied 1 percent on Thursday ahead of the release.

On Wall Street on Thursday, major indexes all ended with gains of 1 percent or more, and a corresponding rise in U.S. Treasury yields underpinned the U.S. dollar's lift against rivals.

Stocks

Struggling Indian operations and slowing sales of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) weighed on the consolidated performance of Tata Motors, India’s biggest automobile manufacturer, with the company’s net profit for the December 2014 quarter missing estimates by a huge margin. Though a few one-offs impacted profits during the quarter, profits at the operating and net levels would have been lower than Street expectations. Tata Motors has slumped by over 5%.

Tata Steel and NMDC are due to post its Q3 results later during the day.