Markets edged lower in late morning deals due to profit booking in heavyweight Reliance Industries following reports that it will suspend oil & gas drilling.
Earlier in the morning, the Nifty opened marginally higher and then edged lower due to selling in RIL. The Nifty was down 25 points, at 5,105 and the Sensex declined 76 points, at 16,975 at around 11:30 hours.
RIL was dragging the Sensex down by 68 points in the morning deals after news reports that it will halt drilling because of review on internal valuations of its exploration by the government. The stock declined 4 per cent, at Rs 836. On Saturday, the oil & gas conglomerate reported 16 per cent jump in the net profit, which was in line with estimates. However, Analysts’ said the net profit was boosted by other income and the upside to the stock will cap around 850.
Among other stocks, software trainer NIIT zoomed 18% after the firm announced the sale of US unit’s entire stake in Element K Corp to Ireland based SkillSoft for $110 Million.
Other major losers on the Sensex were NTPC, Sun Pharma and Larsen & Tourbo, down almost 2% each. Prominent gainers were Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and State Bank of India, up 2% each.
BSE Capital Goods index was the top loser, down 1%. Crompton Greaves fell 2%, Havells India and Usha Martin declined over 1% each.
Market breadth was extremely positive, 1240 stocks advanced for 1124 shares which declined.