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Benchmark indices have turned marginally weak, amid range bound trading, as the losses in financials and select index heavyweights like ITC and RIL have wiped off the gains in information technology, select pharmaceutical and auto shares.
At 12:52PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 87 points at 27,447 and the 50-share Nifty was down 18 points at 8,610.
In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices, up 0.7% and 1% each have performed better than the front-liners. Market breadth in BSE is positive with 1,428 advances against 1,111 declines.
On the macro economic front, the government will release index of industrial production (IIP) data for December 2014 and the annual rate of inflation based on the combined consumer price indices (CPI) for urban and rural India in January 2015 today later during the day.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 371.27 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.
Buzzing Stocks
8 of the 12 sectoral indices of BSE are in green. BSE Auto index, up 0.9%, is the top gainer followed by BSE Power and IT indices, up 0.8% and 0.7% each. BSE Oil & Gas and Metal indices, down 0.8% each are the top losers.
IT stocks are trading firm in today's session. Infosys has has gainder 0.6%. ICA Gruppen, Sweden leading retailer, has partnered with Infosys to revitalize its IT Operations. Wipro has gained 0.9% and TCS has gained over 1%.
Select auto stocks are gaining. Maruti Suzuki has gained over 2%, Hero Motocorp has gained 1.5%. Hero Motocorp has introduced a refreshed version of its entry level commuter, the HF Dawn.
Pharma stocks are trading mied. Cipla and Dr Reddys Lab have gained over 2% each while Sun Pharma is trading lower by 0.5%.
Financials are under pressure in today's session ahead of the release of CPI data. ICICI Bank has declined over 1%. ICICI Bank has acquired 32 million shares or 15.31% of the total diluted capital of Deccan Chronical Holdings Limited (DCHL), a media firm the bank is in legal tussle with to recover its Rs 490-crore loan, taking its total stake in the company to 24.90%.
SBI has lost over 2%. Axis Bank is down 0.3% and HDFC Bank is trading flat.
Among oil shares, ONGC has declined over 1%. ONGC and other state-run explorers may have to pay about Rs 10,900 crore in fuel subsidy after Finance Ministry has agreed to provide only Rs 5,085 crore in cash subsidy for the December quarter. RIL has shed over 1%.
Among other shares, Claris Lifesciences is locked in upper circuit of 20%, also its 52-week high on BSE, on reports that big pharmaceutical companies eyes the company’s injectables business for about Rs 3000 crore.
