 "Markets in consolidation mode; BHEL up 4%")
Markets have extended losses and are trading near day’s low weighed down by index heavyweight ITC and auto shares.
At 13:35 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 99 points at 27,952 and the Nifty50 was down 31 points at 8,647. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap index is down 0.3% whereas the Smallcap index is up 0.4%.
Top losers from the Sensex pack are ICICI Bank, ITC, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC.
Shares of select textile companies were trading higher by up to 20% on BSE on the back of heavy volumes. Garden Silk Mills, Vardhman Polytex, Nahar Spinning Mills, Rajapalayam Mill, Raymond, KG Denim and Indo Count Industries were up 3%-20%.
Garden Silk Mills soared 20% to Rs 38.55 after the company announced fund raising plan by issuing convertible share warrants to promoters.
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Updated at 12:15 PM
Markets continued to consolidate after sharp gains in the previous session with profit taking in financials and auto shares capping further upsides.
At 12:15pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 32 points at 28,019 and the Nifty50 was down 9 points at 8,669. Market breadth was positive with 1534 gainers and 921 losers on the BSE.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 345 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Meanwhile, the GST Council meet which began on Tuesday is likely to arrive to a consensus today on the Goods and Services Tax which would have four slabs.
FMCG majors were the top losers with ITC down 1.6% on fears that higher GST rate on select products would result in price hikes and hurt volume growth going forward. Hindustan Unilever was down nearly 1%.
Financials witnessed profit taking with ICICI Bank down 1.7% after gains of 11% in the previous two sessions after the Essar group on Saturday signed a binding agreement with Russia’s Rosneft, United Capital Partners and Trafigura Group Pte. to sell 98% in its most priced asset, the 20 million tonnes per annum Vadinar refinery and Vadinar port in Gujarat. The private banker is a lender to the Essar Group.
Other Sensex losers include HDFC and HDFC Bank were down 0.3%-0.7% each while TCS eased 0.8%.
Auto shares retreated after recent gains with M&M down over 1% followed by Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp and Maruti Suzuki.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries witnessed renewed buying interest and was up over 1%.
State-owned engineerging major BHEL was the top Sensex gainer up over 4% at Rs 142 on reports that a foreign brokerage upgraded the stock.
Among other shares, Endurance Technologies extended gains and was up 30% at Rs 614 on buying interest post its listing today. Earlier, the stock listed at Rs 572 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), a 21% premium against its issue price of Rs 472 per share.
Sterling Tools has surged 14% to Rs 1,001 after its board said it will meet on November 5, to consider stock split of equity shares.
