After a sharp fall during the previous session, the Indian equities traded flat in early trade on Friday as volatility continued with buying seen in the metals name, while realty stocks remained under pressure.
The Sensex was down 7.72 points or 0.01% at 58780.30, and the Nifty was up 1.90 points or 0.01% at 17562.10. About 1682 shares have advanced, 1282 shares declined, and 98 shares are unchanged in the opening hour.
The trend showed continuation from Thursday's decline that was due to profit booking by investors after sizable gains earlier in the week.
At 09.37 a.m., Sensex opened at 58,790 points, Nifty at 17,565 points, both largely steady from the previous close but soon turned flat. Global cues, especially the crash of Facebook by 25% or erosion of $230 billion in the US market led to decline in global stocks as well.
The ONGC, Tata Steel, Hindalo, JSW Steel, and Grasim Industries were among the top gainers, while Titan, Hero Motocorp, Tata Consumers, Eicher Motors, and Bajaj Auto were the top losers, NSE data showed.
"The best short-term strategy under these uncertain and volatile times is to wait and watch for clarity to emerge. Also, dips can be used to buy high quality stocks with earnings visibility across sectors, preferably financials and IT," said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
