Sensex down over 100 points; Cipla, Vedanta slip over 3%

Markets extended losses in late morning trade weighed down by select index heavyweights including IT major Infosys which is slated to announce its March quarter earnings shortly.

At 11:40AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 160 points at 27,575 and the 50-share Nifty was down 58 points at 8,340.

Vedanta (earlier known as Sesa Sterlite) and Cipla were the top Sensex losers down over 3% each along with HDFC, Infosys, and L&T among others.
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(Updated at 10:25AM)

Benchmark indices continued to trade weak for the second straight session, amid weak Asian cues, with rate sensitive stocks leading the decline. Meanwhile, tax demand from the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) of Rs 40,000 crore on incomes made in previous years also dampened sentiment.

At 10.25 AM,The 30-share Sensex is down 101  points at 27,634  and the 50-share Nifty has lost 40  points at 8,358. 

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 277 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

RUPEE

The Indian rupee on Friday strengthened against the dollar, tracking gains in Asian currencies and is quoting at 63.23 against the US dollar.

BUZZING STOCKS

On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods, Bankex, Power, Consumer Durables and Metal, IT indices are trading lower up to 2%. 

Tata Motors is trading higher by nearly 0.3%. Tata Motors has planned a passenger car product line-up till 2020 and will launch two new cars every year, according to media reports.

Information pack is trading higher tracking gains on Nasdaq. Wipro and TCS are trading higher up to 0.6%. However, 

Infosys is trading lower over 15 on caution ahead of its quarterly numbers later during the day. Brokerages expect the company to post a flat dollar revenue growth and volume growth ranging from 2.5-2.7% sequentially for the March quarter because of cross currency headwinds.

Brent crude touched a high of $65.58 on Thursday, its highest since December. Energy shares are gaining in the early trades. RIL and ONGC are up 0.4% and 1.3% each.

State-owned ONGC has agreed to conduct tests prescribed by upstream regulator DGH to confirm three key gas discoveries in its Krishna Godavari basin block to end a standoff that stalled its USD 8 dollar project. 

Tata Steel continues its upward march after Bank of America Merill Lynch reinstated coverage with a buy rating. The stock is up 1%.

The rate sensitive pack is trading lower in today’s trade as a poor monsoon forecast along with some risks in the form of global commodity prices and rate action in the US may not allow a rate cut in the near future . 

Bank shares are losing sheen in the morning trades. Axis Bank, HDFC twins, ICICI Bank are trading down up to 2%. Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp from the auto space are trading down up to 1.5%.

Cairn India falls 3% after it reported a net loss of Rs 1,044 crore in the quarter ended March as lower crude oil prices impacted margins. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 1,755 crore in the same quarter last year.

Shares of credit rating company CRISIL rallied  nearly16% to Rs 2,315 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trade after it announced share buyback plan.

Shares of Cera Sanitaryware dipped 7% to Rs 2,039, extending the previous day’s 16% fall on the NSE, after the company reported nearly 200 bps decline in operating margins for the quarter ended March 2015 (Q4), due to lower revenue growth.