 "Stock broker looking at screen outside the Bombay Stock Exchange")
Benchmark shares indices continued to trade firm led by gains in index heavyweights ITC and Reliance Industries and IT majors.
At 10:30am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 22 points at 27,797 and the Nifty50 was down 4 points at 8,572. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were trading flat with mixed bias. Market breadth was firm with 1011 advances and 948 declines on the BSE.
ITC was up 1.3% on renewed buying interest while Reliance Industries was up over 1%.
IT majors continued to trade firm with Infosys and TCS were up 0.5%-0.9% each.
On the losing side, Bank of Baroda was down 7% after the state-owned bank reported 60% year-on-year (YoY) drop in net profit at Rs 424 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 (Q1FY17) due to higher provisions and lower net interest income. Further, the bank’s gross net performing assets (NPA) as a percentage of total loans rose to 11.15% at the end of the June 2016 quarter as compared to 9.99% in the March quarter and 4.13% in the June 2015 quarter.
Sun Pharma was down 2% on the back of weak earnings from its overseas subsidiary Taro Pharmaceuticals.
Dilip Buildcon which made its debut on the bourses today listed at Rs 240, a 10% premium against its issue price of Rs 219 per share. The infrastructure firm which raised Rs 654-crore through initial public offering (IPO) attracted massive demand with the offer getting oversubscribed by around 21 times.
Among others, Tata Communications was up over 5% after the Lok Sabha passed the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill.
The Bill, when enacted, will put to rest the Tata Communications- Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) surplus land issue and boost the government’s plans for non-core asset sales in large public sector undertakings (PSUs) that have land banks, the Business Standard report suggests.
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(updated at 9:35am)
Markets opened flat with negative bias, amid mixed global cues, with auto shares emerging as the top losers on profit booking after recent gains.
At 9:35am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 22 points at 27,753 and the Nifty50 was down 11 points at 8,565.
"As the results season comes to end the Indian markets will now look forward for global developments and react accordingly," Angel Broking said in a note.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 413 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Bank of Baroda slumped 7% after the state-owned bank reported weak June quarter earnings. Net profit for the June quarter dropped over 50% to Rs 4.2 crore compared with Rs 10.5 crore in the same quarter last year.
Mahindra & Mahindra was down 0.5%. The auto major posted a standalone net profit of Rs 955 crore, a growth of 12%, compared with Rs 850 crore posted in the corresponding quarter last year. Among others, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki were down 0.5%-1% each.
In the pharma segment, Sun Pharma was down 2% while Dr Reddy's Labs and Cipla were trading with marginal losses.
Gainers include index heavyweight ITC and IT majors Infosys and TCS among others.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian shares were mixed on Thursday tracking overnight losses on wall Street while global crude oil prices slipped on the back of higher US crude inventories. Nikkei and Straits Times were down 0.2%-0.7% each while shares in mainland China and Hong Kong were trading flat with positive bias.
US stocks ended lower on Wednesday weighed down by energy shares after oil prices slipped after data showed increase in US government crude oil inventories. Dow Jones industrial average closed 0.2% lower at 18,496, the S&P 500 dipped 0.3% to close at 2,175 and Nasdaq settled 0.4% lower at 5,205.
