The Indian benchmark indices witnessed a flat opening on Tuesday amid mixed sentiment in the other Asian markets. Asian markets were mixed today as sentiment was weighed down by the sluggish Japanese trade data and the disappointing US earrings. US industrial bellwether Caterpillar became the latest to join MNCs in giving a weak global outlook. The company slashed its 2012 forecast for the second time this year on Monday and warned that the global economy was slowing faster than it had expected.

At 9:25AM BSE SENSEX was at 18778.15 down by 15.29 points or by 0.08 % while NSE Nifty was at 5717.15 up by 32.9 points or by 0.58 %.

The BSE MIDCAP was at 6678.68 down by 512.97 points or by 7.13 %, while the BSE SMLCAP was at 7210.12 up by 40.37 points or by 0.56 %. The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the Indian share market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 1136, shares advanced were 726 while 364 shares declined and 46 were unchanged.

L&T topped the buyers list today with over 1 per cent gain after it reported over 42 per cent growth in second quarter net profit. Mortgage lender HDFC remained flat after reporting Q2 numbers on Monday which were in line with estimates.

Sterlite Industries remained flat ahead of the Q2 numbers today. Hero MotoCorp was down over 1 per cent as the company is set to release its Q2 earnings today.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 1799.80,1.69%), HDFC Bank Ltd. (Rs. 634.15,0.77%), Infosys Ltd. (Rs. 2368.10,0.76%), Tata Power Company Ltd. (Rs. 105.55,0.66%), Bajaj Auto Ltd. (Rs. 1774.00,0.48%), among others.

In BSE, BSE_IT index was at 5725.2 down by 22.82 points or by 0.4%. Infosys Ltd. (Rs. 2368.10,0.76%), MphasiS Ltd. (Rs. 402.05,0.29%), HCL Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 609.75,0.22%), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (Rs. 1316.95,0.19%), Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd. (Rs. 2965.00,0.03%).

In BSE, BSE_FMCG index was at 5849.28 down by 22.69 points or by 0.39%. United Spirits Ltd. (Rs. 1277.00,1.12%), Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. (Rs. 691.40,0.80%), ITC Ltd. (Rs. 292.40,0.48%), Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (Rs. 567.10,0.36%), Jubilant Foodworks Ltd. (Rs. 1285.05,0.35%).

TOP NEWS

Kingfisher Airlines is offering to pay three months wages by Nov. 13 and clear the arrears every month after that, if striking employees return to work by Friday.

India is seeking to boost investment by slashing its withholding tax on rupee-denominated infrastructure bonds to 5 percent from 20 percent, a Finance Ministry document seen by Reuters shows.

Idea Cellular on Monday reported its quarterly profit more than doubled, as expected, on the back of higher revenue. Cairn India’S July-Sept net profit tripled to 23.22 billion rupees from 7.63 billion rupees a year ago.