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Markets continued to trade flat in noon trades as profit booking at higher levels capped further gains. On Wednesday both the Sensex and Nifty ended at fresh record highs. Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange has resumed normal trading.
At 1:20PM, The 30-share Sensex was up 12 points at 25,853 and the 50-share Nifty was down 3 points at 7,722.
The Indian rupee came off its three-week high and was trading marginally lower at Rs 59.71 compared with the previous close of Rs 59.69 tracking subdued domestic stock markets. Further, most Asian currencies were trading lower against the US dollar.
Asian markets were trading mixed as investors turned cautious and booked profits ahead of the US non-farm payrolls data. The Nikkei ended down 0.1% at 15,348. Hang Seng was down 0.1% and while shares in mainland China were trading with marginal gains. China's benchmark share index, the Shanghai Composite waas up 0.2%. Singapore's Straits Times was up 0.5%.
The BSE Auto index was the top sectoral gainer along with IT, FMCG and Consumer Durables indices.
Tata Motors was up 2.4% at Rs 467 contributing the most to the Sensex gains along with Sun Pharma, ITC, TCS and Mah & Mah.
Oil shares were among the top losers with index heavyweight Reliance Industries was down nearly 1% at Rs 1,008 while state-owned ONGC was down 1.3% at Rs 421.
In the auto pack, two-wheeler shares which had gained in the previous sessions also witnessed profit taking. Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were down 2-3% each.
Among other shares, Tech Mahindra was up nearly 1% after the company signed a joint venture agreement with Saudi Arabia-based Midad Holding in turn expanding its footprint in West Asia. To be called Tech Mahindra Arabia, the JV will bring together the regional strength of Midad Holding and global connectivity of Tech Mahindra to create a synergic value proposition for customers in Saudi.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was down 0.1% and the Small-cap index was down 0.2%.
Market breadth was weak with 957 losers and 851 gainers on the BSE.
