Markets pare losses to turn flat; pharma, realty stocks lead

Benchmark indices pared losses to turn flat in the afternoon trade led by rally in realty and pharma indices. However, weaker global cues amid concerns that central banks are moving closer to removing the monetary stimulus kept the sentiment sore.
 
Asian shares were trading lower following overnight trade in Wall Street and European markets also opened lower as investors look out for economic data and G-20 summit outcome.
 
Broader losses in India were capped as pharma and realty indices. Some stocks like Lupin recovered from recent falls on value-buying.
 

At 2:34 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 31,386, up 16 points while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,671, down 4 points

 
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap was completely flat while the S&P BSE Smallcap indices was up 0.4%. 
 
Nifty was up 1.4% for the week, snapping a three-week losing streak and headed for its biggest weekly gain since late May. On the other hand, BSE Sensex was up 1.3% for the week, after losing in the previous week.
 
Financials and private banks weighed on the indexes with Housing Development Finance Corp and ICICI Bank down as much as 1.61% and 1.17% respectively.
 
Meanwhile, InterGlobe Aviation fell as much as 0.89% amid lingering worries about its interest in buying state-owned carrier Air India.

 
Among gainers, Lupin, surged as much as 4.7%, to post its first weekly gains in five. The rally in Lupin pushed the Nifty Pharma index up 1.5% in today’s trade.
 
Unitech was locked upper circuit of 20% at Rs 7.80 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) with nearly five-fold jump in trading volume.
 
Infosys shares fell nearly 1% ahead of June-quarter results on July 14. The IT major slipped a little over 6% in the last 6 months and nearly 20% in the last one year.