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The benchmark indices have drifted lower this morning, continuing from the sluggishness of the previous session, due to some earnings disappointments and weak cues from Asian markets.
At 11:20am, the Sensex was lower by 88 points or 0.3% at 28,281 and Nifty had slipped by 20 points or 0.2% at 8,569.
The broader markets are, however, outperforming the benchmark indices in keeping with the recent trend. The BSE Midcap index has gained 0.5% at 11,272 and Smallcap index is up 0.2% at 11,767. The market breadth is positive, with 1,322 gainers and 910 losers on the BSE.
The market participants will continue to hope for an end to the ongoing logjam in Parliament, and subsequent passage of legislations on GST and Land Acquisition, while also keeping an eagle's eye on the earnings from heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and Axis Bank.
On the global front, officials from the lender institutions -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and IMF will be in Athens during the day to start detailed discussions with the Greek government.
RUPEE
Continuing its losing streak for the third consecutive trading session, rupee dropped 21 paise to 63.97 against dollar in early trades today. The local unit had slumped 19 paise to settle at 63.76 against the greenback on Thursday amid persistent demand for the US currency from banks and importers.
Q1 RESULTS TODAY
Axis Bank, Reliance Inds, ABB, Bharat Electronics, Crompton Greaves, Kolte Patil Developers, Mahindra Finance, Supreme Industries and TVS Motors will announce their Q1 June 2015 result today.
SECTORS & STOCKS
Wipro has slid by 3.2% at Rs 569 after posting a 4% rise in its net profit at Rs 2,187.8 crore compared with the corresponding quarter in 2014-15. Gail, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors are the other major losers among the BSE Sensex stocks.
On the other hand, Cipla, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco and Sun Pharma have gained around 1% each.
Reliance Industries is trading a shade lower at Rs 1,041 and Axis Bank has firmed up by 0.6% at Rs 587 ahead of their financial results, to be announced during the day.
In ther midcap space, IDFC has surged by nearly 4% to Rs 159 after the company announced that IDFC bank has received a bank license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Biocon has soared by nearly 4% at Rs 475 after reporting a better-than-expected 23% year-on-year (YoY) growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 126 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Q1). Indian Bank, Aditya Birla Nuvo and Cummins India and HPCL were the other significant gainers in this space, adding 2-4% each.
In the smallcap space, Pratibha Ind, RS Software, Monnet Ispat and Spicejet have rallied 6-15% each.
