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Markets witness profit taking; Nifty fails to cross 7,650

Investors booked profits at higher levels after sharp gains on Monday

SI Reporter Mumbai
Benchmark share indices came off their day's highs in noon trades on Tuesday amid profit taking at higher levels after sharp gains on Monday.

At 1:20PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 110 points at 25,524 after hitting an intra-day high of 25,556 and the 50-share Nifty was up 25 points at 7,636 after touching an intra-day high of 7,648.


The Indian rupee was trading higher at Rs 60.10 compared to the previous close of Rs 60.18 per on the back of strong gains in domestic equities.

Asian markets were trading mixed with the Nikkei rising the most in the region. Japan's benchmark share index ended up 1.1% at 15,326. Shanghai Composite was up 0.1% and Hang Seng lost 0.1% while Straits Times was down 0.5%.
 
European shares were trading with marginal gains in early trades led by select banks. The DAX, CAC-40 and FTSE were up 0.1-0.4% each.

Auto and Metal indices were among the top sectoral gainers on the BSE while CNX Auto and CNX Metal were the top sectoral gainers on the NSE.

Maruti Suzuki was up 4.4% at Rs 2,546 after hitting a record high  of Rs 2,564 on BSE, after reporting a 33.5% year on year increase in its total sales for June at 1,12,773 units. The country's largest car-maker had sold 84,455 units in the same month last year.

Tata Motors was up 3.7%, M&M gained 3.8% while in the two-wheeler space Bajaj Auto rose 2.5% and Hero MotoCorp was up nearly 1%.

Metal shares firmed on the back of encouraging data from China. China's factory growth rose to a six-month high in June on improving domestic and foreign demand, indicating that the economy is witnessing an uptick. Tata Steel was up 3%, Hindalco gained 6.5% and Sesa Sterlite firmed up 2.3%.

Meanwhile, capital goods shares continued their uptrend after a private survey showed that India's manufacturing sector growth in June expanded at the fastest pace since February. The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), a measure of factory production, rose marginally from 51.4 in May to 51.5 in June. L&T and BHEL were up 1.4% each.

IT majors witnessed profit taking and were among the top losers. TCS, Infosys and Wipro were down 1-1.2% each.

Among other shares, HCC has surged 5% to Rs 49, its highest level since January 2011 on BSE, on back of heavy volumes after the company said its subsidiary Lavasa Corporation is planning to raise about Rs 750 crore through initial public offer (IPO).

The BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.7% and Small-cap index was up 1.3%.

Market breadth was strong with 1,821 gainers and 1,055 losers on the BSE.

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First Published: Jul 01 2014 | 1:29 PM IST

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