 "Markets extend losses; RIL down 2%")
Markets extended losses as investors booked profits in oil and financial shares.
At 10:15AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 162 points at 24,554 and the 50-share Nifty was down 45 points at 7,314.
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(Updated at 9:35AM
Markets trimmed early losses as gains in IT shares helped offset some of the losses in oil and financial shares.
At 9:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 75 points 24,642 and the 50-share Nifty was down 20 points 7,339.
Meanwhile, among the key Cabinet Ministers, Arun Jaitley has been allotted Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs, Rajnath Singh, Home Affairs, Ananth Kumar, Chemicals & Fertilisers, Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs, Nitin Gadkari, Surface Transport & Shipping, Sadananda Gowda, Railway Minister.
The Indian rupee was trading lower against the US dollar at Rs 58.96 tracking weakness in equities. On Monday weakened 19 paise, logging its sharpest drop in about a month, to close at 58.72 against the dollar, amid demand for US dollars from oil importers and profit taking in equities.
Asian stocks were trading lower with the exception of Japan's Nikkei which hit a new seven-week high on Tuesday, extending gains for the fourth straight session on the back of encouraging data from Chinese and the US. Nikkei was up 0.9% while Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite and Straits Times were trading marginally lower.
BSE Oil and Gas index was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE down 1.4%, followed by Power, Bankex, capital goods.
In the oil and gas space, Reliance Industries was down 1% while ONGC was down 2% amid profit taking after recent gains following a deal of its overseas arm ONGC Videsh signed a deal with Russia's largest oil and gas producer Rosneft to jointly explore hydrocarbons in the offshore Arctic.
In the banking space, SBI and HDFC Bank were down 1% each.
Sesa Sterlite which has been firming up since the past few sessions also witnessed profit taking and was down 2.5%.
Gail which had gained in the run-up to its results also witnessed profit taking and was the top Sensex loser down 4%. State gas utility GAIL India late Monday reported a 57 per cent jump in its fourth-quarter net profit on the back of better petrochemical and LPG prices and drop in subsidy outgo.
However, IT shares firmed up on the back of a weakening rupee and upbeat economic data from the US. Infosys, TCS and Wipro were up 1-2% each.
In the pharma pack, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddys Labs was up 0.6-0.9% each.
Among other shares, Wockhardt has tanked 7% to Rs 653 after reporting a sharp 78% year on year decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 74.45 crore for the quarter ended March 2014 (Q4FY14) mainly due to regulatory issues with US and UK health regulators. The pharmaceutical company had posted a net profit of Rs 335 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
In the broader markets, BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were trading flat with negative bias.
Market breadth was weak with 853 losers and 723 gainers on the BSE.
At 10:15AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 162 points at 24,554 and the 50-share Nifty was down 45 points at 7,314.
____________________________________
(Updated at 9:35AM
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Markets trimmed early losses as gains in IT shares helped offset some of the losses in oil and financial shares.
At 9:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 75 points 24,642 and the 50-share Nifty was down 20 points 7,339.
Meanwhile, among the key Cabinet Ministers, Arun Jaitley has been allotted Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs, Rajnath Singh, Home Affairs, Ananth Kumar, Chemicals & Fertilisers, Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs, Nitin Gadkari, Surface Transport & Shipping, Sadananda Gowda, Railway Minister.
The Indian rupee was trading lower against the US dollar at Rs 58.96 tracking weakness in equities. On Monday weakened 19 paise, logging its sharpest drop in about a month, to close at 58.72 against the dollar, amid demand for US dollars from oil importers and profit taking in equities.
Asian stocks were trading lower with the exception of Japan's Nikkei which hit a new seven-week high on Tuesday, extending gains for the fourth straight session on the back of encouraging data from Chinese and the US. Nikkei was up 0.9% while Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite and Straits Times were trading marginally lower.
BSE Oil and Gas index was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE down 1.4%, followed by Power, Bankex, capital goods.
In the oil and gas space, Reliance Industries was down 1% while ONGC was down 2% amid profit taking after recent gains following a deal of its overseas arm ONGC Videsh signed a deal with Russia's largest oil and gas producer Rosneft to jointly explore hydrocarbons in the offshore Arctic.
In the banking space, SBI and HDFC Bank were down 1% each.
Sesa Sterlite which has been firming up since the past few sessions also witnessed profit taking and was down 2.5%.
Gail which had gained in the run-up to its results also witnessed profit taking and was the top Sensex loser down 4%. State gas utility GAIL India late Monday reported a 57 per cent jump in its fourth-quarter net profit on the back of better petrochemical and LPG prices and drop in subsidy outgo.
However, IT shares firmed up on the back of a weakening rupee and upbeat economic data from the US. Infosys, TCS and Wipro were up 1-2% each.
In the pharma pack, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddys Labs was up 0.6-0.9% each.
Among other shares, Wockhardt has tanked 7% to Rs 653 after reporting a sharp 78% year on year decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 74.45 crore for the quarter ended March 2014 (Q4FY14) mainly due to regulatory issues with US and UK health regulators. The pharmaceutical company had posted a net profit of Rs 335 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
In the broader markets, BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were trading flat with negative bias.
Market breadth was weak with 853 losers and 723 gainers on the BSE.