Markets consolidate; Sensex hovers around 29,000

IT shares firmed up while select index heavyweights such as HDFC and RIL eased

Markets are seen consolidating at current levels while profit taking at higher levels capped further upsides.

At 12pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 22 points at 29,000 and the Nifty50 was down 4 points at 8,939. In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap was trading flat while the Smallcap index was up 0.6%. Market breadth was positive with 1323 gainers and 1033 losers on the BSE.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 1,439 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Infosys extended gains and was up nearly 1% after the IT major said it has entered into a JV with Saudi Prerogative Company to conduct IT services for customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

TCS was down 0.3%. TCS announced on Tuesday that the Mississippi, Rhode Island and Maine (MRM) Consortium has gone live with the TCS developed Unemployment Insurance (UI) Application for Benefits. Mississippi's Unemployment Insurance program helps unemployed individuals throughout the state by providing monetary benefits to those who have involuntarily lost their jobs, while they look for new employment opportunities.

ITC was up 0.7%. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday provided ITC interim relief by passing an injunction order restricting Britannia Industries from selling its digestive biscuit NutriChoice Zero in blue-yellow packaging.

Auto stocks which had surged in the previous sessions were trading flat after profit taking at higher levels capped gains. Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto were down 0.2% each.

Sun Pharma was marginally down. The pharma major on Tuesday announced initiation of a phased transfer of manufacturing and marketing rights in Japan for the 14 prescription brands acquired from Novartis earlier this year.

Axis Bank was down 0.6% on profit taking after sharp gains in the previous session.

Top losers include, HDFC, Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Industries among others.

Among other shares, IL&FS Engineering was up nearly 4% after the company said that it has won a pipeline laying contract worth Rs 173 crore from GAIL.

Jindal Poly Films lost 4.08% to Rs 412.10 at 10:48 IST on BSE after consolidated net profit fell 39.3% to Rs 98.84 crore on 7.9% decline in net sales to Rs 1777.03 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.

Shares of NBCC were up nearly 2% after the construction major announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with University Grant Commission for the construction of new UGC Building Complex at JNU Campus, New Delhi.