 "Markets have a jittery morning; Sensex breaks 27,000")
At 9.40am, the Sensex was quoting at 26,947, lower by 492 points and the Nifty was at 8,1645, down 143 points.
The benchmark indices had moved in a narrow range and closed flat on Tuesday, with the Nifty still managing to hold onto to its 200-DMA of around 8150. However, the markets are close to re-testing those levels this morning.
The market participants would be keeping an eye on the developments in Parliament, especially with regard to the GST bill.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian stocks stumbled early Wednesday morning in tandem with weak U.S, but have recovered from thereon and are trading mixed. Hang Seng, Taiwan and Shanghai indices are trading in the green, while SET and Jakarta indices have edged lower.
The US markets had closed lower on Tuesday as investors eyed higher bond yields and an unexpectedly wide march u-s trade deficit. The Dow ended down by 0.79% and Nasdaq shed 1.5%.
SECTORS AND STOCKS
NTPC has lost ground for the second consecutive session, shedding 1% at Rs 149 to emerge as the top loser on the BSE and Hindustan Unilever has lost nearly 1% at Rs 870.
All the sectoral indices are trading in the red, with the pharma, auto and oil pack doing the most damage.
In the pharma space, Cipla and Sun Pharma have lost between half a percent and one percent each.
Shares of Bharti Airtel have gained over 3% in intraday trade after MSCI Global Standard Indexes increased the weightage of the company in the MSCI India Index to 2.6 per cent from 1.3 per cent, effective June 1, 2015.
In the auto space, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto have also lost about half a percent each.
In the oil space, IOC, HPCL and BPCL have weakened by more than 2% each, while RIL is trading flat with a negative basis.
Pfizer has weakened by 4% at Rs 2156 after reporting a standalone net profit of Rs 42.68 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.
ABB India has shed 1.6% at Rs 1377 despite reporting a five per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 54.29 crore for the quarter ended March 2015.
On the other hand, the metal space is sustaining its momentum from the past two trading sessions, with Hindalco and Tata Steel gaining around a percent each.
Dabur India has firmed up by 1.7% at Rs 268 after reporting a consolidated net profit of Rs 285 crore for the quarter ended March 2015, a rise of 21% over the year-ago period.
The market breath is weak. Out of 1628 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 528 advancing stocks as against 1042 declines.