Market edges lower; Nifty below 5900

Nifty slipped below the crucial 5900 mark ahead of key data ahead

Broader markets continue to outperform benchmark indices even as investors continue to take profits out of frontline stocks after a 5-day rally on Sensex which saw it rally 10%.

At 12:49 pm, the BSE Sensex is down 140 points or 0.6 percent currently trading at 19860.65, while NSE Nifty is down 37 points or 0.6 percent currently trading at 5,875.20. Both BSE Small cap and Mid cap are up 0.7% and 1.2% respectively.

"Support at 5875 and 5850. Resistance at 5920 and at 5950. Breakouts could go till 5800 or till 5975. As of now, a downside breakout or range trading between 5850-5900 looks most likely" says Devangshu Datta, Technical analyst.

Bank stocks are the biggest losers on the bourses followed by IT, Consumer Durables, TECk, Metals, oil & gas, auto, PSU and FMCG. While, Realty, Power, Healthcare, Capital Goods are trading in green.

Among top gainers are Tata Power, GAIL (India), NTPC, Cipla and BHEL while Hero Motocorp, Coal India, ONGC, Sesa Goa and TCS are major losers.

The rupee weakened in afternoon trade due to dollar demand from oil importers and defense related payments.

At 12:05 pm, the rupee was trading at Rs 63.62 compared with previous close of Rs 63.37 per dollar.


Tracking a weak global trend and rising rupee, gold prices fell by 0.18% to Rs 30,505 per 10 gram in futures market today as speculators indulged in trimming positions.

The market breadth remains positive.  Out of total 2029 stocks trade d on the BSE, 1175 stocks advanced while 881 declined.

July factory data and August retail inflation data will be released by the government after the market hours today. The factory output or IIP is expected to shrink for third straight month signalling persistent slowdown fears in Asia’s third-biggest economy. Consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation or simply retail inflation declined to 9.64% in July from 9.87% in the previous month.

Asia’s benchmark stock index swung between gains and losses after Japanese machinery orders accelerated less than expected.

Japan's Nikkei share average edged down in choppy trade Thursday morning as the stronger yen hit exporters. The Nikkei dropped 0.5 percent to 14,360.76 in mid-morning trade after briefly entering positive territory. The index has moved away from a seven-week high of 14,561.46 the previous day.

MTNL gained 20 percent ahead of the GoM meeting later in the day to mull a revival plan for state-run telecos MTNL and BSNL. Instead of simply sanctioning a bailout package for the two there may be a long-term revival plan that may be considered.