Sensex, Nifty flat; HUL, BHEL, Sun Pharma gainers

The market has slightly recovered with support from pharma and metals. The Sensex is up 43.64 points or 0.2 percent at 25088.07 and the Nifty is up 18.15 points or 0.2 percent at 7628.60. About 1314 shares have advanced, 844 shares declined, and 170 shares are unchanged. Tata Steel, HUL, BHEL, Sun Pharma and Vedanta are top gainers while Tata Motors, M&M, ONGC, TCS and Bharti Airtel are losers in the Sensex. Gold ticked up but was under pressure from a Federal Reserve policy meeting this week when the US central bank is expected to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. In its last policy meeting of the year on December 15-16, the Fed is seen raising rates by a quarter of a percentage point. Investors fear higher rates could dent demand for non-interest-paying bullion, while boosting the dollar. Gold has already slid 9 percent for the year, its third straight annual decline, in anticipation of a rate hike.

Sensex recovers, Nifty above 7600; banks, infra, pharma up

10:20 am Market Expert: There is a risk-off approach to the global market and this week will reflect just that, says Vineet
Bhatnagar of PhillipCapital. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Bhatnagar says the Nifty, however, should find good support at 7500-7530. On sectoral bets, Bhatnagar says the Bank Nifty should trade steady at 15500-15800, adding that despite current weakness in some private names, banking sector would be relatively performing well from a one-year horizon. Bhatnagar further adds that 2016 is still expected to be the year for equities among most institutional investors. Also read - How worried should you be about US junk bond, oil selloff 10:00 am Market Check The market recouped early losses with the Nifty getting back above 7600 level, driven by banks, capital goods and pharma stocks. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 25.73 points to 25018.70 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 1 point to 7611.45. The market breadth was positive as about 1030 shares advanced against 875 declining shares on the BSE. Shares of Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, HUL, Maruti, Lupin and GAIL gained 0.5-1 percent while Tata Motors, TCS, M&M, Bharti Airtel and ONGC fell 1-3 percent.

Sensex opens below 25000, Nifty weak; Tata Motors down 4%

The market has kickstarted the week lower. This week, the Fed is likely to hike interest rates for the first time in nine years, following strong macro data in the world's largest economy recently. The Sensex is down 170.63 points or 0.7 percent at 24873.80 and the Nifty down 54.75 points or 0.7 percent at 7555.70. About 192 shares have advanced, 335 shares declined, and 66 shares are unchanged. GAIL, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, HUL and Sun Pharma are top gainers while Tata Motors, TCS, M&M, ONGC and Axis Bank are among losers in the Sensex. The Indian rupee opened at a fresh two-year low at 67.09 per dollar. It is trading lower by 21 paise against Friday's close of 66.88. Agam Gupta of StanChart Bank said, "The local government banks should be sellers of the dollar on upticks towards 67.20-67.30/dollar today. Any dips towards 66.75/dollar should lead to importers buying dollar to hedge their future dollar payables." Asian equities were trading lower after a further slump in oil prices weighed on Wall Street on Friday. The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that global oversupply of crude could worsen next year as OPEC continues to pump out more oil. Oil producers also saw sharp declines in their stocks in Asian trade.