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Benchmark indices have erased early gains and have slipped into negative zone weighed down by IT, capital goods and metal shares.
At 11:50 PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 51 points at 23,756 and the 50-share Nifty was down 19 points at 7,090.
Adds Ravi Nathani, Technical analyst at nsetoday.com,” As yesterday Index has closed flat on chats post sharp rally stiff resistance on charts is expected around 7172, whereas support is at 7060.00, trade above/below would add trigger in the direction.”
On the global front, Asian shares pared early losses on Thursday but held below the previous session's one-month highs, while expectations of credit easing by the European Central Bank knocked yields on US and European bonds.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was marginally lower, after it rose to its highest level since April 10 on Wednesday. Shares struggled to rise after Wall Street retreated overnight from record highs marked the day before.
Back home, the rupee rose to a session high of 59.45, its highest since July 29, but suspected RBI intervention pushed the pair to 59.55/56 from its close of 59.66/67 on Tuesday.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1520.08 crore on Wednesday, 14 May 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
On the sectoral front, BSE Metal, Capital Goods and IT indices have slumped between 1-1.3%. However, sectors like Power and Consumer Durables have gained by nearly 1% each.
The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include Coal India, ICICI Bank, Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco, L&T, Bajaj Auto and Wipro.
On the gaining side, NTPC, Tata Power, Sun Pharma, GAIL and Axis Bank have gained between 1-3%.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has made a settlement agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation for dismissal of lawsuits filed in the United States against Sun's US subsidiary.
Among other shares, Asian Paints has dipped nearly 6% to Rs 524 after reported a fourth-quarter net profit in line with analysts' estimates, however EBITDA margin remained flat at 14.7% on account of higher raw material costs.
Nilkamal has soared 11% to Rs 233 after reporting nearly three-fold jump in net profit at Rs 14.13 crore for the quarter ended March 31 2014 (Q4), on back of strong operational performance.
The broader markets are underperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are down nearly 1% each.
The market breadth in BSE remains unhealthy with 1,480 shares declining and 961 shares advancing.
