Profit booking, global cues subdue markets; Nifty holds 8,300

Markets finished the session on a lower note, amid choppy trades, as investors turned cautious and booked profits ahead of the US jobs data later today. Further, dismal global cues and fall in crude oil prices dented market sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex shed 75 points to close at 27,127 and the Nifty50 lost 15 points to end at 8,323. However, midcap stocks continued to remain on buyers' radar with BSE Midcap index up 0.1%.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said,"The Market witnessed range bound movement with negative bias as investors stayed put from making fresh long positions ahead of US job data expected later today. A better job data will provide an intermediate relief to the FED from the underlying headwinds of Brexit. The correction from any angle could be utilized as an opportunity to buy on dips as the stability in domestic fundamentals will pay better risk return in the medium term."

In overseas stock markets, European stocks reversed initial losses. Asian stocks edged lower as investors awaited US jobs data to get a clearer picture of the health of the world's biggest economy. US stocks closed mostly lower yesterday tracking sinking oil prices, but the market pared losses late in the session as investors sought bargains ahead of the closely watched jobs report. 

As per data released by Automatic Data Processing Inc., US private-sector employment picked up a bit in June. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims fell last week to a nearly three-month low. The US government will announce nonfarm payroll report for June 2016 later in the global day today.

Back home, the Southwest Monsoon was 35% above average during the week ended Wednesday, pushing overall rainfall numbers since the start of the season to one per cent above average.

Telecom stocks declined after reports suggested that that the telecom department is likely to soon send out demand notices to some carriers for under reporting of revenues. Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) and Idea Cellular declined 1%-3%.

Other notable losers are Adani Ports, L&T, ICICI Bank, GAIL, ONGC and Coal India, all declining between 1.5%-2%. 

Tata Motors gained over 2%. Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover on Thurady reported 22 per cent jump in global retail sales to a record 2,91,556 units in the first half this year riding on robust demand in Europe and the UK.

Lupin has secured a partial relief as the US Food and Drug Administration has closed the July 2015 inspection of its Goa plant. The stock rose 1%. 

Cipla is investing 1.3 billion South African Rand (about Rs 600 crore ) in a biotech plant in South Africa as it aims to make cancer drugs affordable and grow its presence in the market. The stock gained over 1%. 

Stocks of companies involved in oil exploration & production activities fell as global crude oil prices dropped in the previous session. GAIL, ONGC and Oil India slipped 1%-4%. Lower crude oil prices will result in lower realization from crude sales for oil exploration firms.

In the global commodities markets, brent crude oil futures for September settlement was up 37 cents at $46.77 a barrel. The contract had dropped $2.40 a barrel or 4.91% to settle at $46.40 a barrel during the previous trading session. Crude oil prices rebounded after hitting two-month lows in the previous session triggered by news that the US weekly crude draw missed some forecasts.

Shares of Cairn India dropped over 1% as the stock turned ex-dividend today, 8 July 2016, for final dividend of Rs 3 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016.
 

Shares of print media companies were up on reports that the government is planning to raise the foreign direct investment limit in newspapers and periodicals to 49% from 26% at present. H T Media, Jagran Prakashan and D B Corp edged higher between 1%-3%. Currently, the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy permits 26% FDI in the publishing of newspapers and periodicals dealing with news and current affairs through government approval route. 

Gujarat Gas ended higher by 5% after the company announced that it has received approval from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board’s (PNGRB) to lay, build, operate or expand city or local natural gas distribution networks (CGD) in Panchmahal and Anand districts of Gujarat.

Zee Learn surged 8% on back of heavy volumes after its net profit for the first quarter ended June 2016 (Q1FY17) more than doubled to Rs 8.02 crore. Essel Group Company engaged in education business had profit of Rs 3.96 crore in June 2015 quarter.

8K Miles Software Services moved higher by 10% after the company reported 57% jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 19.33 crore for the quarter ended June 2016 (Q1FY17) on a sequential basis.