 "People look at a screen displaying the Sensex on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai")
Benchmark share indices extended losses in late morning trades weighed down by profit booking in index heavyweights with Reliance Industries leading the decline post its earnings annoucement on Thursday.
At 10:55am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 135 points at 27,994 and the Nifty was down 35 points at 8,664. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap was down 0.1% and Smallcap index was trading flat. Market breadth was neutral with 1116 gainers and 1112 losers on the BSE.
Reliance Industries was down 1.7% despite better-than-expected earnings. Reliance Industries surprised the Street with a record standalone net profit of Rs 7,704 crore for the quarter ending September 2016 (Q2 FY17), 17.9 per cent higher than the Rs 6,534 crore profit after tax (PAT) reported in the same period last year. Bloomberg consensus estimates had pegged the net profit at Rs 7,239 crore on revenue of Rs 58,004 crore. Standalone revenue, too, was ahead of estimates at Rs 64,344 crore.
Mortgage lender HDFC retreated after recent gains and was down 1.6%.
Among other shares, Biocon hit a fresh record high of Rs 1,020, up 4% on BSE in early morning trade, after the company posted robust 52% year on year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 147 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 (Q2FY17), led by the company’s biologics, small molecules businesses and Syngene. Analysts on an average had expected a profit of Rs 133 crore.
_________________________
(Updated at 9:30am)
Benchmark share indices opened higher on Friday with index heavyweight Reliance Industries leading the gains after better-than-expected second quarter earnings while robust numbers from IT major HCL Technologies also boosted sentiment.
At 9:30am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 70 points at 28,060 and the Nifty50 was down 16 points at 8,683.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 7 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
"The Nifty has been making higher highs – higher lows from last three trading sessions and needs to continue the same to surpass its supply trend line and crucial hurdle of 8745 and 8778 zones. It formed a Doji like pattern on daily chart as it closed near to opening levels which indicates that bulls and bears both started to fight to get the market grip to set a decisive trend for next coming sessions. Now till it holds above 8620 zones trend may remain intact for a bounce back move towards 8745 and 8778 levels while on the downside multiple supports are seen at 8678 then 8620 and 8550 zones," Anand Rathi said in a technical note.
ALSO READ: Buy Bajaj Finance, ONGC, TCS: Motilal Oswal
Reliance Industries was down 1%. Reliance Industries surprised the Street with a record standalone net profit of Rs 7,704 crore for the quarter ending September 2016 (Q2 FY17), 17.9 per cent higher than the Rs 6,534 crore profit after tax (PAT) reported in the same period last year. Bloomberg consensus estimates had pegged the net profit at Rs 7,239 crore on revenue of Rs 58,004 crore. Standalone revenue, too, was ahead of estimates at Rs 64,344 crore.
HCL Technologies was up over 3% after it maintained guidance for FY17 in terms of constant currency and EBIT. The IT major reported consolidated net profit of Rs 2015 crore in the quarter ended September 2016 compared to the previous quarter. Consolidated income for the September quarter was higher at Rs 11,519 crore compared with Rs 11,336 crore in the quarter ended June 2016.
ICICI Bank was down over 1% after double-digit gains in the previous sessions on expectations that it would receive its due after the Essar group last week signed a binding agreement with Russia’s Rosneft, United Capital Partners and Trafigura Group Pte. to sell 98% in its most priced asset, the 20 million tonnes per annum Vadinar refinery and Vadinar port in Gujarat.
Among other financials, HDFC, SBI and Axis Bank were down 0.7%-1% each.
Infosys was trading with marginal losses after the stock was traded ex-dividend of Rs 11 per equity share. The company in a release said that the interim dividend payment will be made on October26, 2016.
Global Markets
Asian markets were trading mixed after rising global crude oil prices dented sentiment while the US dollar firmed up against major currencies. Japanese shares gained after the yen weakened against the US dollar. The bench Nikkei was up 0.3% while Shanghai Composite was trading with marginal gains. However, Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.5%.
US stocks ended flat with negative bias with telecom stocks leading the decline while gains in American Express post encouraging earnings helped cap further downside. The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 0.2% at 18,162, S&P 500 closed 0.1% lower at 2,141 and the Nasdaq settled 0.1% lower at 5,242.
