Markets pare gains to end flat

TCS, HDFC Bank among gainers

Markets erased early morning gains towards the end of the day and ended flat. The Sensex dropped to a low of 17,182 after trading in a range bound fashion for most part of the day. The BSE benchmark index ended down 19 points at 17,214. Nifty ended down eight points at 5,227.

India's exports fell 5.45% to $25.1 billion in June, while imports fell 13.46% to $35.3 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $10.3 billion, a senior trade ministry official said on Friday.

Exports between April and June fell 1.7%, totalling $75.2 billion, Anup Pujari, director general of foreign trade told reporters.

The rupee trimmed early gains against dollar but was still trading higher by 31 paise at 55.63 a dollar on selling by banks and exporters amid persistent capital inflows.

Almost all the Asian markets were in the green after China's second-quarter gross domestic product data landed in line with forecasts, offsetting worries that a slowdown in China could undermine fragile global growth. Kospi rose 1.5%, followed by Straits Times and Hang Seng.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 268.54 crore on Thursday, according to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

BSE consumer durables index slipped 1.6% to 6,231. Realty and metal indices were the key draggers and were down over 1% each.

IT major TCS is the biggest gainers among Sensex stocks, following its results on Thursday. The company reported nearly 38% jump in consolidated net profit for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2012-13. Shares of TCS were up 1% at Rs 1,250.

On the other hand, Infosys reeled under pressure from a disappointing guidance outlook. The stock was down 1.6% at Rs 2,228. Meanwhile, the country's largest insurer LIC has hiked its stake in Infosys to a record high level of 6.3% with purchase of shares worth an estimated Rs 2,000 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

Hero MotoCorp was the biggest gainer - up 1.4% at Rs 2,087.HDFC Bank added 1.2% to Rs 587 following its results.

India's second-largest lender among private banks reported a 30.5% increase in net profit at Rs 1,417 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012. It was Rs 1,085 0crore in the same period a year ago. The net interest income rose 22.3% to Rs 3,484 crore from Rs 2,848 crore in June 2011. The other income increased 36.6% to Rs 1,520 crore from Rs 1,120 crore for the quarter ended June 2011.

ONGC, Cipla, ITC were up less than a per cent each. However, Jindal Steel dropped 3.2% to Rs 430. Hindalco, Tata Power and SBI were also in red.

Among other stocks, Den Networks soared 7% to Rs 122, also its 52-week high, after the company said that overseas investor - TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC has bought one per cent of the company through open market transaction.

SRF Limited moved higher by 3.5% to Rs 228. after the company said it has commissioned and capitalized projects at Dahej, Gujarat at an aggregate cost of Rs 250 crore.

R S Software (India) zoomed 19% to Rs 102, its highest level since January 2001, on reporting almost double its consolidated net profit at Rs 9.58 crore for the first quarter ended June 2012, due to higher operational income and lower depreciation. The small-cap IT software products company had a net profit of Rs 5.01 crore in a year ago quarter.