FIRST TRADE: Sensex adds 15 points, Nifty steady at 24,611; DMart falls over 3%

Indian equities tracking weak global cues started Wednesday's session (December 12) on a cautious note. At the start, Nifty was flat up 0.9 points at 24,610.95, while the 30-share Sensex was up marginally by 0.02 per cent or 14.47 points at 81,524.52

The high beta Nifty Bank index was down led by losses in index heavyweights including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank among others.

Sectorally, in a mixed session, IT and media indices led the gains, while private banking and financial services stocks emerged as the top sectoral losers.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, "Nifty is in a consolidation range and is likely to remain in this consolidation phase with a mild upward bias in the near-term. The biggest positive for the market is the return of the FIIs and the consequent strength in the largecaps, particularly in banking and IT."

FIIs turning buyers have enthused the retail investors who have been on the defensive after the near 10 per cent correction from the September peak, added Vijaykumar.

Stocks in focus 

DMart shares fell over 3 per cent to the day's low of Rs 3,699.65 after Goldman Sachs continued with its 'sell' call on the counter.

Awfis Space Solutions traded with marginal gains after 12 per cent equity in the counter changed hands in the pre-open trade.

BEML after bagging an order worth Rs 84 crore from the Minsitry of Defence was trading with gains of over 1 per cent at Rs 4,413.8 per share.

Asian markets

The key MSCI Asia ex Japan traded in the red -down 0.27 per cent. However, Asian markets remained mixed with the key US inflation print in focus. At the last count, Japan's Nikkei and Singapore's Straits Times were down, meanwhile Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading with marginal gains.