Markets pared all the gains and were trading lower following selling in frontline stocks - ICICI Bank, HDFC and Infosys The Nifty touched a high of 4,816 in opening trades and changed tracks soon after. The Nifty was hovering around 4,862, down 27 points and the Sensex was at 16,213, down 71 points.
ICICI Bank, HDFC and Infosys drag the Sensex down by almosyt 40 points.
-------------------------Updated at 10:00 hrs
Asian markets rose sharply on Thursday morning after United States manufacturing data provided some optimism to investors that the US economy was not falling off the cliff. The US Commerce Department reported that manufactured goods surged 4% in July from the revised 1.3% fall in the previous month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 advanced between 0.9% and 1.3% each.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.4% and China’s Shanghai Composite advanced 1.7%.
Back in India, there may be some volatility ahead of the derivatives expiry today. Ashish Chaturmohta, Vice President - Derivatives and Technical Analys, said “On the upside, 4960-5000 acts as a crucial resistance; buying interest in the form of short covering likely to be seen only is Nifty succeeds in closing above 5000 levels.
Market wide rollovers were slightly lower in the current series, at 63% compared to 67% seen in the previous series. High rollovers were seen in auto, media and energy sectors, according to Emkay Research.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs 883 crore in the cash segment; however, they formed long positions in the index and stock futures, they were net buyers in Rs 339 crore and 1,409 crore each.
Investors are also closely watching Ben Bernanke’s speech for hints of further stimulus.
Among the sectoral indices, the defensive healthcare index was the top gainer, up 0.6%. Dr Reddy’s advanced 1.4%, followed by Fortis Healthcare and Lupin, up almost 1% each.
BSE IT and Metal shares were leading the losses, down 0.6% each.
Midcap IT shares were the prominent losers; Mphasis fell 3.5%, Core Projects was off 2.7% and HCL Technologies gave up 0.9%.
From the metal pack, Coal India lost sheen, down 1.7%, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel were off around 1% each.
From the broader markets, the midcap and the smallcap indices were trading flat.
Top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma, up 2%, followed by Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors, up over 1% each. Top losers were Tata Steel, down 1.7%, followed by Coal India and Hero Motors, down over 1% each.
Market breadth was positive 786 stocks advanced for 644 stocks which declined.
