 "Markets pare gains; NTPC dips nearly 3%")
After range-bound trades, markets have slipped in the negative territory with state-run NTPC dropping nearly 3% after media reports suggest that the government is in the process of appointing legal advisors for divesting stakes in the firm.
At 2:20 PM, the Sensex was at 28,187, down 21 points and the Nifty was at 8,515, down 7 points.
Top 5 losers on the Sensex include NTPC, Vedanta, Hero Motocorp, Hindalco and Lupin dipping between 1-3%.
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(Updated at 1:15PM)Markets continued to trade firm in noon trades, shrugging off concerns over Greece's exit from the euro zone, with IT shares gaining the most ahead of first quarter earnings from TCS on Thursday.
Meanwhile, reports suggests that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras would present new proposals at an emergency meeting of the Eurozone.
At 1:15PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 65 points at 28,273 and the 50-share Nifty was up 21 points at 8,543.
The broader markets outperformed the benchmarks on bargain hunting in fundamentally sound stocks. The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 0.6-0.7% each.
Market breadth was strong with 1,631 gainers and 900 losers on the BSE.
The Indian rupee firmed up against the US dollar and was trading higher at 63.36 compared to the previous close of 63.40 on dollar sales by exporters and banks while firm trend in domestic equities also aided sentiment.
SECTORS & STOCKS
Except for Auto and Power indices which were trading flat with negative bias all other sectoral indices on the BSE were trading positive. BSE Realty index was the top gainer up 1.2% followed by Consumer Durables and Healthcare among others.
Rate sensitive sectors firmed up on hopes of a rate cut by the central back on the back of above normal monsoon and signs of economy picking up pace.
In the realty pack, Sobha, Indiabulls Real Estate, HDIL, DLF and DB Realty were up 1.5-4.4% each. In the banking pack, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were up 0.2-0.6% each.
IT shares are ruling firm ahead of first quarter earnings from TCS. Infosys and Wipro gained 0.6-1.6% each while TCS was trading flat with negative bias.
State-owned oil marketing companies witnessed buying interest after global crude oil prices softened in wake of crisis in China and Greece debt crisis. Global crude oil prices slumped 6% to trade near 2-month lows on Monday. BPCL, HPCL and IOC were up 0.5-2.7% each.
Aviation shares rose on hopes that state-owned oil companies may lower aviation turbine fuel prices.Jet Airways and SpiceJet were up 7-9% each.
Coal India, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Dabur India, Britannia Industries, BEML and SRF are among 143 stocks that hit their respective 52-week highs on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today.
Supreme Court has initiated probe into roles of Reliance Power and Hindalco regarding their involvement in coal allocation cases. Reliance Power was up 0.8% while Hindalco slipped 1.2%.
Auto shares are trading mixed post their June sales numbers. Maruti Suzuki and Hero Motocorp were down between 0.4-1.2% each while Bajaj Auto and M&M were up 0.4% each.
Shares of Indian companies with exposure to Europe fell following Greeks' rejection of rescue package from creditors. Motherson Sumi Systems and Bharat Forge were down over 1.4% while Tata Motors eased 0.4%.
Among other shares, Unity Infraprojects surged 13% to Rs 15.45 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company in a release said that it issued equity shares at Rs 27.52 per share to lenders and promoters which is at a premium to the current stock price.