Markets have a lacklustre opening; Nifty hovers at 8,550

Information technology and pharma stocks are in the limelight this morning, while select banking stocks are under pressure.

The benchmark indices have started the proceedings on a quiet note tracking subdued cues from the Asian front.

At 9.35am, the Sensex was at 28,183, lower by 39 points and the Nifty was at 8,552, down 13 points.

In the broader markets, the midcap and smallcap indices are trading mildly in the positive at 11,546 and 12,161 respectively. The market breadth is positive. Out of 1,685 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 979 advancing stocks as against 645 declines.

The markets had surged by 151 points and the Nifty had ended above 8,500 on Wednesday.

According to a market report by Nirmal Bang Research, the Nifty is expected to open on a slightly negative note and remain range-bound during the day. Technically, the Nifty has a support at 8520/8500 levels. On the other side 8570-8580 is acting a resistance level, only a breakout of those levels will get open the door for 8600-8650 levels.

A derivatives report by Anand Rathi Equity Advisory says, "Now the Nifty has to hold above 8,580 levels to witness buying interest towards 8,635 and 8,650 levels. However, if it fails to maintain its 8,550 levels then it may drift towards 8,500-8,480 zones. On the Option front, maximum Put OI is at 8,200 followed by 8,300 strike, whereas maximum Call OI is at 8,800 followed by 9,000 strike."

On the results front, Motherson Sumi and Arvind will declare their April-June earnings later in the day.

RUPEE

The rupee edged up 4 paise to 63.71 against the US dollar in early trades at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on increased selling of the dollar by exporters amid higher foreign funds inflow.

The rupee had closed barely steady at 63.75 against the US dollar in yesterday's trade on fresh selling of the dollar by banks and exporters amid sustained foreign capital inflows into equities.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian markets were trading mixed with the Nikkei gaining after the US dollar strengthened against the yen. Japan's benchmark Nikkei was up 0.8% and China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.4%, while Hang Seng was down 0.5% and Straits Times eased 0.1%.

Major US stock indices ended mixed on Wednesday with the Dow Jones ending flat with a negative bias after lower profit forecast by Disney for its cable business led to profit taking in media shares with Disney slumping over 9%. However, the tech-laden Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended with marginal gains led by technology shares. The Dow Jones ended down 0.06% at 17,540.47 while the Nasdaq gained 0.7% at 5,139.94 and the broader S&P 500 ended up 0.3% at 2,099.84.

SECTORS AND STOCKS

However, IT majors, including Infosys and TCS have got off to a robust start after Cognizant reported its best-ever sequential revenue growth and revised its revenue forecast upwards for the second quarter in a row, on Wednesday. The strong dollar and rising prospects of a rate hike by the US Fed have further buoyed the IT segment for the second consecutive session. The pharma stocks are also in good health, with Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma, Lupin and Cipla ranking among the major gainers on the BSE.

On the other hand, Tata Steel is seeing profit-booking post recent gains, sliding by 2% at Rs 256. Select banking stocks are alsounder pressure in nearly trades. ICICI Bank has slipped by 1% at Rs 327 aafter it raised $500 million in dollar bonds; the issue opened early on Wednesday and closed during European late evening hours. SBI and HDFC also also weakened by nearly 1% each.

RESULT IMPACT

Siemens zoomed by 4% at Rs 1555 after the company's net profit zoomed 13 fold to Rs 168 crore for the third quarter of financial year 2015 compared to Rs 13 crore in Q3 2014 due to cost rationalisation process.

GSK Consumer Healthcare has edged lower by 0.2% at Rs 6325 despite reporting 19% net profit growth at Rs 155 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 compared to the same quarter last fiscal.

Bata India has slipped by more than 4% at Rs 1175 after reporting a 56% growth in net profit at Rs 92 crore compared to Rs 58 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Ramco Systems has also shed 1.7% at Rs 1,023 after net profit rose 169% to Rs 97 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 as compared to Rs 36 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014.