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Sensex has edged lower in early noon deals on account of weakness in Banking and Oil & Gas shares, while the Nifty is trading flat with a positive bias.
At 12.10 PM, the Sensex is down 30 points at 25,520 and the Nifty is up 2 points at 7,626 levels.
The broader markets continue to outperform the benchmark indices and have gained 0.8% each
Asian Markets:
Asian equities gained on Thursday, lifted by another record-high close on Wall Street, while the euro probed recent lows against the dollar amid speculation the US Federal Reserve is tilting toward tighter monetary policy in light of a stronger economy.
Back home:
The rupee fell marginally by two paise to 60.14 against the dollar in early trade today on increased demand for the US currency from banks and importers.
Meanwhile, Overseas investors bought Indian shares worth 6.21 billion rupees on Wednesday, provisional exchange data shows.
Quarter1 Earnings:
Bajaj Auto today reported a Q1 net profit of Rs 740 crore compared to Rs 737.7 crore in the year-ago period. In addition, the revenues came in at Rs 5,252 crore compared to Rs 4,911 crore in the same period last year. Also,it reported sales of 988,430 in the quarter compared to 979,275 in the year-ago period and Operating EBITDA margin stood at 19.6%
Sectors & Stocks:
On sectoral front, BSE Oil and gas is the top losing index, followed by realty and Auto indices lower between 0.2-1%. Bankex is down half a percent. On the contrary BSE Consumer Durables index is still the top gaining index up by 1% followed by BSE IT, Teck , Power, Capital goods and Metal indices. In addition, BSE FMCG index is trading flat with a positive bias.
Metal pack is witnessing fresh buying with Coal India being the biggest gainer of this hour up 2% followed by Hindalco, Tata Steel and Sesa Sterlite up between 0.7-1.5% on the back of positive Chinese GDP growth data .
TCS has gained 0.4% ahead of the quarterly results due later during the day. Wipro and Infosys added 1% and 1.4% each
Capital goods shares are trading in green after RBI announced incentives to raise long term bonds for infrastructure financing. L&T and BHEL are up between 0.2-1%
The power shares which were trading in red during the morning trades have slipped in the positive territory on fresh buying. NTPC and Tata Power are up 0.7%
Among other notable gainers are Sun Pharma, HDFC, Cipla and Tata Motors
On the flip side, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has dipped almost 3% after a huge block deal executed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The banking shares which were up yesterday on RBI announcements have slipped in red on profit taking.
SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC bank are down between 0.5-1%
Oil and gas shares are trading in the negative territory after a bullish US stockpiles report raised hopes of resurgent demand in the world's top crude consumer. RIL, ONGC and GAIL are down between 0.6-2%
Bajaj Auto dipped 2% post the declaration of QI results.
Among other shares, Ahluwalia Contracts has surged nearly 10% to Rs 126, extending its 10% rally in past two trading sessions on NSE, after securing construction orders worth of Rs 615 crore.
CMC has dipped 5% to Rs 1,880 after reporting a lower-than-expected 10% year on year (yoy) rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 58 crore for the June quarter (Q1). Analysts on an average had expected profit of Rs 91 crore for the quarter.
The market breadth is marginally positive on the BSE with 1,477 shares advancing and 1,044 shares declining.
