Sensex, Nifty flat; HUL & Wipro laggards, Brent above 60/$

Moneycontrol Bureau

11:50 am Market outlook: The market is unlikely to fall much ahead of the Budget, says UR Bhatt of Dalton Capital Advisors. In an interview to CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy, he says the Nifty could move in a range of 7900-8300 till Budget. Bhatt sees 7900 as a strong support level for the Nifty. He expects shares of cement and engineering companies to be good buying opportunities post-Budget, as new projects take shape. He expects consolidation in the PSU banks space and feels these banks could be the surprise winners of 2015.

Bhatt feels the RBI may wait for the currency to stabilise before cutting interest rates. He sees spectrum auction as an important trigger in the telecom sector, and expects the next one year to be an uncertain one for telecom companies because of regulatory disruptions. His advice to clients for 2015 is to invest 50 percent in equities and the rest in debt.

11:30 am Buzzing: Investors lapped up more shares of SpiceJet ahead of submission of revival plan to the government on Friday. The stock gained as much as 10.5 percent intraday. "Beleaguered budget carrier SpiceJet would submit a revival plan to the government today on the basis of a proposed investment of USD 200 million from founding promoter Ajay Singh and US-based JP Morgan Chase," media reports said quoting unnamed official sources.

The potential investors are likely to buy stake from current promoter Kalanithi Maran by infusing USD 200 million within a month to help the airline stay afloat, said the report. The airline has already received Rs 17 crore from the investors, the sources said, adding that "it has wiped off all its dues to the oil companies".

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The market seems to be still in a holiday mood and refuses to budge ahead. The Sensex is down 1.38 points at 27207.23 and the Nifty is up 7.75 points at 8181.85. The Nifty retraces after touching the 8200 mark in early trade. About 1169 shares have advanced, 945 shares declined, and 85 shares are unchanged.

SBI, Coal India, Sesa Sterlite, Axis Bank and Sun Pharma are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the top losers are GAIL, HUL, ITC, Wipro and Tata Motors.

Globally, Asian markets are mostly higher in post Christmas trade. Japan's economic data was mixed with the industrial data below estimates.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 2,808.27 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data available with stock exchanges.

Brent crude futures held above USD 60 a barrel as strong US economic data supported the market, but oil prices were track for their fifth straight weekly decline as a building supply glut capped gains. On the supply side, data suggested an increasing glut as US data showed crude inventories unexpectedly rose by 7.3 million barrels last week to their highest December level on record. Analysts had expected a seasonal draw.