)
Benchmark indices remain weak dragged by losses in select financials and IT shares. On the other hand, among the rate sensitives, auto shares are trading firm.
At 10;15 AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 48 points at 27,998 and the 50-share Nifty was down 18 points at 8,370.
In the broader market, BSE midcap and smallcap indices with gains of 0.4-0.7% each have outperformed their larger peers. The market breadth in BSE is positive with 1,188 advances against 994 declines.
With corporate earnings season getting over on Friday, trading in the current week is likely to be influenced largely by global cues.
Further, the sharp fall in benchmark inflation indices - Wholesale Price Index and Consumer Price Index - is likely to bring the rate sensitive sectors in focus on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India will either make a token cut or give a dovish outlook in the December policy.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 645.90 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Buzzing Stocks
BSE Auto index, up 0.8% is the biggest gainer followed by BSE Consumer Durables index, up 0.4%. On the other hand, BSE Bankex, IT and FMCG indices down 0.3% each are the major losers in the first hour of trading.
Rate sensitive auto shares have seen fresh buying. Tata Motors shares are in focus and are up more than 2%. The company posted lower-than-expected earnings for the second quarter dragged by weak domestic sales. However, the revenues from company's prized possession Jaguar-Land Rover were in line with market estimates.
Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp have gained around 0.8-1.5% each. Maruti Suzuki is up 0.5% after paring early losses.
Among financials, SBI with a gain of more than 2% is among the biggest gainers. The bank is also in news after signing a MoU with Adani Enterprises for their $7 billion coal mine, rail and port project. The trading and infrastructure conglomerate signed a MoU to line up a loan of up to $1 billion from SBI for the Carmichael mine in Queensland, which it aims to build by the end of 2017
On the other hand, HDFC twins have lost more than 1% each. On Friday, Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) enhanced the foreign investment limit in HDFC Bank to 74%. However, the board decision to treat parent HDFC as a foreign holding will leave little headroom for any new foreign investors to buy stakes in the bank. Earlier, the bank was also excluded from the MSCI-Asia index.
ICICI Bank is trading with a loss of around 1%.
From the oil & gas sector, ONGC has gained around 1%. On Friday, the company reported higher-than-expected earnings in its Q2 results.
Pharma shares are trading firm with the exception of Sun Pharma, down more than 1% on lower-than-expected earnings in the Q2 results. After the announcement of its second-quarter results on Thursday, the company management had said in its earnings call that there could be minor delays in the closure of Ranbaxy merger if pending approvals were not received.
Cipla and Dr Reddys Lab are trading with gains of around 0.5% each.
Metal shares are under pressure amid weak global economic trends. Tata Steel is trading flat along with Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite has lost around 0.3%.
Select IT majors are trading weak. Infosys has lost around 0.6% and Wipro is trading flat with a negative bias. On the other hand, TCS has gained around 0.4%.
Global Markets
In Asia, Nikkei has slumped around 3% after the third quarter GDP data showed a 1.6% contraction in Japanese economy.
Hang Seng, down 0.3% is under pressure ahead of the formal release of the project connecting the Hong Kong markets with their Chinese peers. However, Shanghai Composite is trading with a gain of 0.3%.
At Wall Street, markets ended flat on Friday as losses in healthcare shares wiped the gains in energy stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.1%, to 17,635, the S&P 500 ended flat at 2,040 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2% to 4,688.
