 "Markets open flat tracking mixed global cues; Adani Ports up 2%")
Markets have extended losses with Sensex and Nifty trading near day’s low weighed down by index heavyweight shares like Reliance Inds and ITC.
By 10:20 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was lower by 183 points at 27,903 and the Nifty50 slipped 81 points to trade at 8,597 levels.
Top losers from the Sensex pack are Lupin, Reliance, Dr Reddy’s Labs, ITC and ICICI Bank, all slumping between 1%-2.5%.
Lupin has extended losses and is down by over 2.5% despite robust first quarter earnings after operational performance was lower-than-expected. India's third-largest drugmaker reported a 68% rise in first-quarter profit, beating analysts' expectations.
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Among other shares, Aptech hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 97.25, up 4%, extending its previous day’s 12% rally on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the promoter, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, increased his holding in the IT training services firm through open market purchase.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) has rallied 5% to Rs 252 on the BSE in early morning trade after the company reported 31% year-on-year (YoY) jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 836 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 (Q1FY17).
Sundram Fasteners has rallied 10% to Rs 234, extending its Tuesday’s an over 10% surge on the BSE, after the company reported nearly double net profit at Rs 75.55 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 (Q1FY17), on back of strong operational performance.
Investment banks have made suggestions to the Aditya Birla Group to hive off its financial services and insurance businesses from BSE-listed Aditya Birla Nuvo to invite new investments in the two businesses. Shares of Aditya Birla Nuvo and Grasim have slipped between 2%-6%. Meanwhile, AB Money has surged over 14%.
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Updated at 9:30 am
Markets have started the session on a flat note with positive bias tracking mixed trend among global peers.
By 9:30 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was lower by 2 points at 28,083 and the Nifty50 slipped 2 points to trade at 8,677. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are trading mixed.
On Tuesday, benchmark indices ended lower with the Nifty50 index breaking 8,700 after Raghuram Rajan at his last monetary policy review meeting as RBI governor hinted upside risks to inflation while keeping key policy rates unchanged, in line with economists' expectations.
"Nifty has formed a Bearish Belt Hold candle near to the upper band of rising channel at its 52 week high levels followed by a Doji candle on last Monday. It has been witnessing buying interest on decline but on higher side follow up buying is missing. Now it has to hold above 8665 to cross 8700 zone and continue the up move towards 8750-8777 zones while on the downside multiple supports exist at 8620 then 8550 zones," adds Anand Rathi in a technical note.
Asian shares held near one-year highs on Wednesday as investors pared expectations slightly for a Federal Reserve interest rate increase following weak US productivity data, which drove the dollar and Treasury yields lower.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan rose 0.1%, staying near a one-year high hit the previous day. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.6% on the yen's gains.
Wall Street eked out gains on Tuesday following a strong session for European stock markets, with Germany's DAX index jumping 2.5% to its highest of 2016 due to strong earnings from reinsurer Munich Re and telecoms group Altice.
Back home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 144.15 crore yesterday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will announce its Q1 June 2016 result today. The stock has gained around 1%.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) has gained over 3% after posting a 31 per cent growth in its net profit in Q1 of FY 2017 at Rs 835.71 crore, as against Rs 638.93 crore for the corresponding period last year.
Drug maker Lupin recorded a net profit of Rs 881.9 crore in the first quarter of the financial year 2016-17 , up 55 per cent from Rs 568.5 crore during the same period last year. The stock is marginally down.
HCL Technologies turns ex-dividend today for interim dividend of Rs 6 per share for the year ending 31 March 2017 (FY 2017). The stock is up marginally.
