Markets extend loses; govt hikes excise duty on petrol, diesel

Markets extended losses in noon trades as the government hiked the excise duty on petrol and diesel prices by Rs 1.50 per litre. 

At 1420 hrs, the Sensex was down 72 points at 27,936 and the Nifty was down 29 points at 8,354.

OMCs and banks were the top losers of the hour.
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(Updated at 1425 hrs)
Markets continued to trade marginally lower amid profit taking in financials even as renewed buying interest was seen in the broader market.

At 12:55PM, the 30-share Sensex was trading 7 points lower at 28,003 and the 50-share Nifty was down 5 points at 8,378.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.4% and the Small-cap index was up 0.5%.

The Indian rupee is trading lower at 61.55 compared to Wednesday's close of 61.49.

Retail inflation slowed to 5.52% in October from a multi-year low of 6.46% a month earlier. Industrial production in September grew 2.5%, its fastest in three months.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors continued to remain buyers in Indian equities with net purchases of Rs 459.47crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Asian markets were trading higher with Japanese shares gaining the most ahead of the release of third quarter Japanese GDP data due on Monday. Meanwhile, China's benchmark Shanghai Composite was trading with marginal losses weighed down by selling pressure in the broader market while Hang Seng was trading 0.3% higher. Further, Singapore's benchmark share index, the Straits Times was up 0.8%.

Among the rate sensitive shares, financials were among the top losers as profit taking emerged after recent gains on hopes of a rate cut by the central bank.

HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank were down 0.4-1.2% each.

Other Sensex losers include index heavyweights ITC and Reliance Industries down 0.3-0.4% each.

Select pharma shares witnessed buying interest with Sun Pharma and Cipla up 1.9% each.

Caiptal goods shares firmed up after production of capital goods increased 11.6% in September, against a decline of 6.6% a year ago and 9.7% in August this year, as per the Industrial Production data. BHEL was up 1.3% and L&T was up 0.8%.

Tata Steel was up 0.7% after the steel major reported a 37% growth in net profit at Rs 1,254 crore for the quarter ending September 2014. It was Rs 917 crore in the same period a year ago.

Among other shares, Marico kaya Enterprises was locked in upper circuit of 10% at Rs 672 on BSE, after the company said it has reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 12.6 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2014 (Q2), on back of strong revenue growth recorded by international business. The company had a net loss of Rs 1.1 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

TVS Srichakra has soared 13% to Rs 1,739, extending its past three days rally on BSE, after reported an over three-fold jump in standalone net profit at Rs 26 crore for the second quarter ended September 2014 (Q2), on back of strong volume growth. Auto tyre and rubber products maker had profit of Rs 8.27 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Market breadth was nearly neutral with 1,396 losers and 1,356 gainers on the BSE.