Markets finish flat amid lack of fresh triggers

Markets finished the session on a flat note amid lack of fresh triggers as investors remain wary on persistent sell off by the foreign investors coupled with fears of rising inflation on the back of inadequate rains. Meanwhile, weakness among the global peers has hurt the sentiments.

Provisionally, the Sensex 4 dipped points to end at 26,834 levels and the Nifty shed 3 points to close at 8,139.

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(updated at 2.45 PM)

Markets have staged a recovery in the late noon deals with technology shares, financials and Index heavy heavyweights RIL and L&T limiting the losses.

Reliance Industries is trading higher ahead of the AGM meet due on June 12 while the technology pack continues its upward march on the back of depreciating rupee.

At 2.45 PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 35 points at 26,802 and the 50-share Nifty was down 5 points at 8,130.

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(updated at 2.35 PM)

Markets have trimmed losses in the late noon deals with technology shares and Index heavy heavyweights RIL and L&T limiting the losses.

Reliance Industries is trading higher ahead of the AGM meet due on June 12 while the technology pack continues its upward march on the back of depreciating rupee.

At 2.35 PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 104 points at 26,733 and the 50-share Nifty was down 25 points at 8,110.

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(updated 1.25 PM)

Benchmark share indices continued to witness selling pressure and were trading near their day's lows as fears of a drought and its impact on the economy continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

At 1:25PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 226 points at 26,611 and the 50-share Nifty was down 62 points at 8,073.

RUPEE

The rupee is trading at 64.14 to the US dollar compared to the previous close after foreign funds turned net sellers in domestic equities tracking overseas gains in the US currency.

SECTORS & STOCKS

All sectoral indices were in the red with BSE Metal index emerging as the top loser down 2% followed by Consumer Durables and Healthcare among others.

ICICI Bank was down over 3%. The stock is quoted ex-dividend from today, 4 June 2015, for dividend of Rs 5 per share for the year ended 31 March 2015.

The fears of drought and its impact on the rural economy seem to be weigh on the FMCG sector with ITC down over 1% while Hindustan Unilever slipped 0.8%.

Auto shares continued to witness profit taking as analysts have started lowering earnings estimates on concerns that weak monsoon could hurt volume growth. Tata Motors was down 2% after the company reported lower Jaguar sales in May 2015 at 168 units compared with 375 units in May 2014. M&M, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto were down 0.1-2% each.

The information technology sector has gained nearly 1% on the back of depreciation in rupee. Wipro and Infosys have gained 0.4-1.5% each while TCS pared early gains and was down 0.4%.

Cipla was down 1%. The company has received approval from United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for an innovative formulation Lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) 40mg/10 mg oral pellets  for pediatric specific treatment for infants.

Axis Bank is up 0.4% after RBI announced that the restrictions placed on the buying of shares of Axis Bank by foreign institutional investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolio Investors (RFPIs) have been withdrawn with immediate effect.

Other gainers include, Reliance Industries and engineering major L&T.

Among other shares, shares of Mukand were up over 5% at Rs 39 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company in a release today said that the Corporate Debt Restructuring Empowered Group confirmed the exit of the account of Mukand from corporate debt restructuring mechanism.

Shares of GPT Infraprojects were up over 3% at Rs 97 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company announced that it has won orders from Damodar Vallery Corporation.

Shares of Suzlon Energy have gained 2% to Rs 21 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after securing new order from ReNew Power, an Independent  Power  Producer  (IPP)  company.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were down 0.7% each.

Market breadth weakened further with 1,462 losers and 969 gainers on the BSE.