Lacklustre trades continue

BSE IT index top sectoral loser

Markets are trading on a lacklustre note in the morning deals on the back of weak global cues and selling pressure visible in the IT, banking and oil & gas stocks. The Sensex is down 29 points at 17,207 and the 50-share Nifty is down 7 points at 5,222 levels.

Selling pressure is visible in the IT, banking and oil & gas stocks. The BSE IT index is the top sectoral loser, down 0.6% or 33 points at 5,312 levels. Bankex, oil & gas, metal, PSU and FMCG indices are also trading lower by 0.2-0.6% each. On the other hand, healthcare, power, realty and consumer durable indices are trading in green, up 0.3-0.8% each.

Among the Sensex stocks, Coal India, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, TCS and ITC are the top losers. At the same time, Cipla, BHEL, Bajaj Auto, SBI and Tata Motors are among the gainers.

Amopng the individual stocks, Symphony Limited has locked upper circuit of 20% at Rs 310 on reporting 68% year-on-year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 19.67 crore for the quarter ended June 2012, on back of higher operational income and lower raw material consumption. Operating margins improved by 200 basis points to 30.76% from 28.65%.

Orissa Mineral Development Company (OMDC) has rallied over 7% at Rs 49,500, extending its past five days surge after the state-owned company made a multiple corporate announcements including stock split and bonus issue plans.
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(Updated at 9:20 AM)

Markets have opened on a subdued note tracking weak global cues. The Sensex has opened at 17,226, down 10 points and the 50-share Nifty has opened lower by 4 points at 5,224 levels.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets were trading lower as softer Chinese manufacturing data further undermined the fragile market sentiment as expectations faded of stimulus action this week by the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. The Hang Seng was down 9 points at 19,787, Nikkei slipped 93 points to 8,601 and the Seoul Composite was down 4 points at 1,878 levels.

Overnight, the US stocks fell on Tuesday with traders' sights set again on Wednesday's Federal Reserve statement on the economy and a possible new round of stimulus.

The Dow Jones fell 64 points, or 0.5% to close at 13,009, S&P 500 Index dropped  0.4% to 1,379.32 and The Nasdaq Composite lost 6 points to 2,939 levels.

Back home, in an important political development, P Chidambaram has been appointed as the new Finance Minister. He takes over from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had been holding temporary charge after Pranab Mukherjee, who is now President, resigned.

Coal India is the top loser among the Sensex stocks it has opened lower by nearly 1% at Rs 356 after the company agreed to supply at least 80 per cent of the coal needed to fuel new power projects, a condition earlier set by the government.

Sterlite Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Hindalco, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Auto and Hindustan Unilever have also opened weaker by 0.2-0.7% each.

On the other hand, Cipla continues to trade on a strong note consecutively for the third day after it posted 58.19% rise in net profit at Rs 400.76 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2012. The stock has opened higher by, up 6.6% at Rs 361.

HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy's Labs, State Bank of India, Maruti Suzuki and Jindal Steel have also opened higher by 0.5-0.8% each.

On the sectoral front, IT, oil & gas, teck and metal indices have opened lower. While, healthcare index is the top gainer, up 97 points or 1.4% at 7,238. Realty, power, capital goods and auto indices have opened higher by 0.3-0.8% each.

The broader markets have opened flat. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices have opened higher by 0.5% each.

The overall breadth is positive as 836 stocks are advancing while 436 are declining.