Sensex, Nifty flat; Axis Bank, HDFC, Hero laggards

1:45 pm Budget outlook: Ahead of the much-awaited Budget over the upcoming weekend, the market is expected to remain volatile over the next few days, is the word coming in from Sanjay Dutt, director, Quantum Securities. At the moment, the market is at the upper end of the trading range, he says. As expected, there will be a lot of noise in the run up to the Budget. But Dutt does not expect major changes on the tax front in the Budget. 

"The Budget needs to be a radical, out-of-the-box type of a Budget," he told. If it indeed turns out to be a Modi Budget, or if finance minister Arun Jaitley truly manages to deliver, there will be a big rally in the market, he adds. As far as the Railway Budget goes, all positives that may come from it are already priced in, he says. Certain core issues have been plaguing the Railways for many years now and if Suresh Prabhu has to bring the railways back on track, there is a need for some radical decisions on that front as well.

1:30 pm Buzzing: Shares of Kotak Mahindra surged 4 percent while ING Vysya was up 3 percent intraday on Monday after the proposed Rs 15,000-crore merger deal got the Competition Commission's (CCI) approval.

According to the fair trade regulator, the merger, which would create the country's fourth largest private sector lender, is "not likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India". In an order dated February 12, the CCI said that share of both entities in various relevant markets is "insignificant".

In this case, the regulator took into account multiple relevant markets including those for deposits, home loans, agricultural banking and card business. These were considered in accordance with the international best practices regarding the assessment of the mergers in the banking sector.

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The market is flat as the Sensex is up 53.23 points at 29284.64 and the Nifty is up 8.85 points at 8842.45. About 1341 shares have advanced, 1305 shares declined, and 201 shares are unchanged.

Sesa Sterlite, L&T, TCS, M&M and Tata Power are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are GAIL, Reliance, Axis Bank, HDFC and Hero.

President Pranab Mukherjee today said inflation has fallen to a record low due to a number of decisive steps taken by the government and the economy is again on a high growth trajectory. Delivering his address to the joint sitting of Parliament, whose Budget session commenced today, he said, "Inflation and food inflation, in particular, are at a record low due to a number of decisive measures taken by the government."

Wholesale inflation turned negative for the second time in three months as fall in petroleum and food prices dragged it to a five-and-a-half year low of (-) 0.39 percent in January. The overall food inflation was at 8 percent.