Markets drifted lower in the morning trades as profit booking was visible across the heavyweights after the recent run-up. At 10:20am, the Sensex was down 137 points at 19,255 and the Nifty lost 41 points to trade at 5,859.
However, the broader markets continued to attract investor interest with the smallcap and the midacp indices adding 0.2% each as compared to a 0.7% loss in the Sensex.
Among the sectors, Consumer Durables, Auto and Realty were the only ones in the green, up 0.1-0.4%. Among the ones in the red, IT, Power, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods and Bankex indices edged lower by 0.5-1.5%.
The only gainers among the Sensex stocks were Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Jindal Steel which gained 0.2-1.5%.
Among other stocks, Tara Jewels listed at Rs 242, a 5.2% premium against its issue price of Rs 230 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Making an exception from the IT pack, MphasiS was up 2% at Rs 395 after the IT consulting and software firm reported 14% year-on-year growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 209 crore for the fourth quarter ended October 2012.
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(Updated at 9:30am)
After an initial surge in opening trades, the markets slipped into the red as selling pressure persisted in heavyweights like Infosys, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries. Also, the Asian markets gave off the morning gains. The Sensex slipped 95 points at 19,297 and the Nifty gave off 32 points at 5,869.
According to technical analysts, the Nifty is likely to seek support around 5,890-5,884, while face resistance around 5,910-5,917.
Overnight, a volatile trading session ended with U.S. stocks mostly higher on Wednesday, even as Apple, the most valuable company in the United States, suffered its worst day of losses in almost four years.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 82.71 points, or 0.64%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 2.23 points. But the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 22.99 points, or 0.77%, to end at 2,973.70.
Asian shares were mixed with Shanghai Composite,Hang Seng and Straits Times down 0.05-0.3%.Meanwhile, Nikkei, Jakarta Composite,KLSE Composite and KOSPI Composite were up in the green, adding 0.3-0.7%.
In the broader markets, the smallcap index opened up 0.4% and the midcap index added 0.3%, both outperforming the Sensex which slipped 0.3%
Among the sectoral indices, Auto, FMCG, PSU, Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, MEtal and Power up 0.1-0.4% where the gainers in the opening trades. On the other hand, IT, Oil & Gas and Health Care started off in the red, losing 0.1-0.9%
The movers among the Sensex-30 were Jindal Steel, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and BHEL up 0.5-0.8%. The other notable gainers included SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Tata Power, L&T, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC and Hero MotoCorp which added 0.2-0.4%
Among the draggers were heavyweights like Infosys, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank down over 1% each. Wipro, Sun Pharma, TCS, Hindustan Unilever and Sterlite down 0.6-1% were the major draggers.
Shares of companies engaged in retail business are trading higher by up to 6% in opening trades, extending their yesterday’s late noon rally after the government won the Lok Sabha vote on allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
Among the individual stocks, Shoppers Stop and Pantaloon Retail (India) has surged 6% each at Rs 499 and Rs 252 respectively. Trent Limited, a Tata Group Company, is trading higher by 4% to Rs 1,320, followed by CESC is up 2% at Rs 326 on the BSE.
The market breadth was positive. 724 stocks advanced while 396 stocks declined on the BSE.