Markets erase opening gains

RIL top loser among the Sensex stocks

Markets are trading on a flat note and have given up most of the gains in the first hour of trade on the back of selling pressure visible in the heavyweight stocks such as Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, TCS, HUL and NTPC. The Sensex is up 24 points at 18,601 and the 50-share Nifty is up 5 points at 5,653.

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks. The stocks has jumped 1.6% to Rs 1,388 after the comapny launched new Alto 800 in small car segment which is priced lower than the base variant of the outgoing model.

Tata Power, Tata Motors, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto, BHEL and ICICI Bank are also trading higher by 0.4-1.4% eah.

Among the individual stocks, Lupin Limited has moved higher by 2% at Rs 564 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company said that its subsidiary has received a final approval for its Irbesatan tablets from the United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to market a generic version of Sanofi Aventis, Avapro tablets.
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(Updated at 9.17 AM)

Markets have opened on a positive note on the back of positive global cues. The Sensex has opened higher by 123 points at 18,701 and the 50-share Nifty has opened at 5,684, up 36 points.

The Asian markets were trading higher on the back of strong US earnings reports brightened investor mood, while the euro hit a one-month high against the dollar as Spain dodged a bullet when Moody's Investor Service kept Madrid's investment grade rating.

Hang Seng advanced 0.8% at 21,394, Nikkei was up 1.3% at 8,816, Seoul Composite advanced 0.6% to 1,952 and Taiwan Weighted was also up 0.3%.

Overnight, the US stocks rallied on Tuesday, giving the S&P 500 its best two-day advance in a month as strong earnings from Johnson & Johnson and other bellwether companies raised hopes for the rest of the US reporting season.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 127 points to close at 13,552, S&P 500 Index advanced 15 points to finish at 1,455 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 37 points to end at 3,101.

Back home, country's fourth largest software services provider, beat market expectations with a 78% rise in Q1 consolidated net profit helped by higher contract wins.

Consolidated net profit rose to Rs 885 crore compared to Rs 497 crore on a year-on-year basis. Analyst were expecting profit to rise to Rs 800 crore, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Reacting to this development the stock has opened higher by 3% at Rs 605 also its new 52-week high on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, most of the Sensex stocks have opened on a positive note. Tata Motors is the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, 1.2% at Rs 265. BHEL, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Hindalco, Tata Power, Dr reddy's Labs, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki and HDFC have also opened higher by 0.4-1% each. On the other hand, HUL, GAIL India and HDFC Bank  are among the notable losers.

Buying is visible across the board. The BSE realty index is the top sectoral gainer, up 1% at 1,838. Capital goods, teck, auto, IT, healthcare and PSU indices are also up 0.4-0.7% each.

The broader markets have opened in-line with the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap index is up 0.4% at 6,662 and the small-cap index is up 0.5% at 7,150.

The overall breadth is positive as 954 stocks are advancing while 344 are declining.