The 30-share index was trading 535 points or 0.89% lower at 59,669 at around 9.20 AM. Similarly, Nifty50 was trading at 17,769, down 122 points or 0.68%.

“One thing very important for the Budget is the rural stress. People will look forward to what the Budget does to address that. Second point to watch out for would be the long-term capital case”

​See, ultimately, it is all about content. So if content is good, after the initial first three days which is looking very good, I think then it will boil down to content.

“The 18200 Nifty has become a major resistance level which is keeping the Nifty in the narrow band of 17800-18200. Now, it appears that a major trigger is necessary to break this range either on the upside or the downside,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said.

The BSE Sensex index ended 37 points or 0.06% higher at 60,979, while Nifty50 closed at 18,118

Axis Bank, Power Grid, Dr. Reddys, Bharti Airtel and SBI Life were among the top losers on NSE.

RBM Infracon Ltd., Radhika Jeweltech, Gravita India, Tapi Fruit Processing Ltd. and Upsurge Seeds of Agriculture Ltd., hit their fresh 52-week highs at 11:06AM.

The NSE Nifty index was trading 40.25 points up at 18158.8

The NSE Nifty index was trading 31.15 points up at 18149.7

​Among the Sensex stocks, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra rose about 0.5-1%. Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, SBI, M&M, and Maruti also opened with gains.

“Niftys 17800-18200 range has been holding for sometime now. To break the upper end of the range, the market needs positive triggers,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said.

We feel participants should maintain their focus on stock selection amid the prevailing consolidation phase in the index and wait for a decisive breakout on either side. Going ahead, the upcoming earnings announcement of index majors might provide the needed trigger. Besides, global cues, especially the performance of the US indices, will remain in focus.

Obviously next week also we are in expiry. Monthly expiry is coming up that is why we are seeing that markets have been quiet since the last three-four sessions. So, the sector on my radar is financials and within the financials also PSU banks.

Obviously next week also we are in expiry. Monthly expiry is coming up that is why we are seeing that markets have been quiet since the last three-four sessions. So, the sector on my radar is financials and within the financials also PSU banks.

The Asian Paints stock closed at ₹2,784.9 on the NSE on Friday, down 2.83% from the previous close. Nearly 34 lakh shares exchanged hands on the BSE and NSE on Friday, over three times its combined average daily volume in the last one month.

HUL, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, JSW Steel and Nestle India were among the top losers on NSE in today's trade.

Baid Leasing, Arihant Academy Ltd., Hisar Metal Ind, Sterling Tools and Shreeoswal Seeds, hit their fresh 52-week highs during the day.

The NSE Nifty index closed 80.2 points down at 18027.65

The NSE Nifty index closed 80.2 points down at 18027.65

The BSE Sensex index ended 237 points or 0.39% lower at 60,662, while Nifty50 fell 80 points or 0.44% to settle at 18,027

​Now some people might be happy not to create wealth but most people in my generation, most of my client base want to create a degree of wealth for themselves and I am afraid that is not going to come from investing in fixed deposits in a country like India, that is only going to come from investing in high quality equities.

HUL, Asian Paints, JSW Steel, Nestle India and SBI Life were among the top losers on NSE.

Hisar Metal Ind, Arihant Academy Ltd., Sterling Tools, Trans & Rectif and Shreeoswal Seeds, hit their fresh 52-week highs at 11:06AM.

Lower-than-expected urban recovery and potential execution challenges in new categories are key risks.

The brokerage has remained positive on the stock but said a re-rating looks unlikely given premium valuations and likely disruption due to the entry of a large player. It has an accumulate rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 3326.

Asian Paints numbers are quite disappointing in terms of the kind of volume growth they reported as well as the overall growth so it was a significant miss.

The NSE Nifty index was trading 21.35 points up at 18129.2

​Yes, the outlook is definitely improving and we will continue to prefer the leaders in the pack. Yes for HUL the royalty issue is a near term negative but in the broader scheme of things I think it is not too much of an issue.

The NSE Nifty index was trading 1.9 points down at 18105.95

Om Mehra, Equity Research Analyst at Choice Broking said, we expect Indian markets range bound today with stock specific actions as big companies like Reliance, JSW Steel & HDFC Life will declare their quarterly results.

However, on the short-term time frame, the momentum indicators suggest that the stock is in an overbought zone and high chances of quick short-term correction are not ruled out if the stock trades below 368 or 10-Day SMA.

But what we need to really look at from now on is that at such high valuations one has to really look at what is the trend in terms of volume growth because you know after a point of time when you have gained a lot of market share you become a proxy to the industry and hence your growth starts to taper off.

The NSE Nifty index closed 57.5 points down at 18107.85

The BSE Sensex index ended 187 points or 0.31% lower at 60,858, while Nifty50 fell 57 points or 0.32% to settle at 17,108

Adani Ent., Asian Paints, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Bank were among the top losers on NSE in today's trade.

The NSE Nifty index closed 57.5 points down at 18107.85

Mold Tek Tech, Hisar Metal Ind, Chembond Chem, GRP Ltd and Atul Auto, hit their fresh 52-week highs during the day.

The profit and sales were lower than the ET Now poll of Rs 1,156 crore and Rs 9,480 crore, respectively.

“The crucial issue influencing equity markets globally is whether the US will succeed in containing inflation without falling into a recession. There is no consensus on this,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said.

Sectorally, buying was seen in metals, capital goods, telecom, and consumer durables while selling was seen in utilities, auto and power stocks.

Axis Securities expects sales growth to moderate to mid-single-digit growth of 4.6% at Rs 8,923 crore on weak demand (consumer inflation and easing pent-up demand). The volume growth is likely to be negative during the quarter under review. The brokerage expects EBITDA margins to decline 100 basis points YoY, mainly due to lower operating leverage. Analysts at Axis Securities expect PAT to decline 2.6% to Rs 989 crore during the quarter under review.

“I do not think the commodity increase should be viewed as a market signalling there is going to be great demand. I would just hasten to caution that one should not be looking at increasing equity exposure despite all the positive noise we may see. This is a market which will remain extremely volatile during the course of the year.”

"On the global front, the US market will remain shut on Monday on account of Martin Luther King Jr Day. However, we will have lots of macro numbers from the US, Europe and China. Apart from this, movement in crude oil prices, US bond yields and the dollar index will be other important factors," said Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd.

The BSE Sensex ended 303 points or 0.51% higher at 60,261, while Nifty50 rose 98 points or 0.55% to settle at 17,957

“The visibility of the next five to seven years in some of the contracts gives me a lot of confidence about Infosys maintaining a 15% plus kind of steady rate of growth, continuing for the next five years or so in a very sustainable manner. Any correction in the price or softening of the stock price is a good opportunity to buy into Infosys and TCS.”