Here's how the markets opened today

Indian stocks opened cautiously flat against the backdrop of the monthly expiry of futures contracts on Thursday as weak-to-flat overseas cues and an extended weekend forced traders to be fence sitters. Pharma companies dominated trade.

The Nifty fell 29 points to 7,817 points in initial trades. Lupin, BPCL, Maruti, Dr. Reddy's and Bosch were the top five gainers on the Nifty while NMDC, Cairn, ONGC, Vedanta and Larsen dominated the losers' list. The Advance-Decline Ratio on the Index stood at 12/38. Local markets are shut on Friday due to a holiday.

Drugs major Lupin lead the top traded list on the National Stock Exchange with Motherson and Dishman occupying the next two slots.

The broader market was sideways with wider indices such as the CNX 100, CNX 200 and CNX 500 benchmarks falling by 0.2 percent each. The CNX Mid Cap and the CNX Small Cap Indices were flat as well, with mild up ticks.

The trend was mixed in the sectoral space with the benchmarks representing Media, Software, Pharma and Auto sectors edging higher versus sectors such as Energy, Finance and Banking that slipped lower in trade.

The Sensex fell 131 points, or 0.8 percent, to 25,692 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange. ONGC, Reliance, Coal India and ICICI Bank were the top losers on the Index while Dr. Reddy's, Maruti and TCS along with Lupin were the top gainers. The Advance-Decline Ratio stood at 7/23 on the Index where Larsen, Lupin and Reliance Industries were the top three traded stocks.

The Nifty Futures in the derivatives space were trading flat on expiry day as traders bet upon a flat close today. September saw the following futures notch up smart gains: IDBI, Just Dial, JP Associates and Reliance Communications while futures of Bharat Forge, Motherson Sumi, SKS Micro and Glenmark were on the top losers charts in the derivatives space.

Image credit: Indiatimes