Nifty trades below 8,300; Tech Mahindra slips 13%, Tata Motors down 5%

The markets have opened on a negative note, tracking weak cues from the global front.

At 9.35am, the Sensex was at 27,414, lower by 117 points or 0.4% and the Nifty was at 8,293, down 47 points.

The broader markets are also witnessing selling pressure, with the midcap and smallcap indices shedding about 0.5% each at 10,577 and 11,108 respectively.

The impending derivative expiry on Thursday is likely to add volatility to the market proceedings, given the rollovers from the ongoing May F&O series to the June series.

"Nifty needs to cross and hold above 8,350 levels to witness an up move towards 8,380 then 8,440 levels. On the downside, if it fails to sustain 8,320 zone then the index may witness profit booking towards 8,280 and 8,250 levels. Traders are required to maintain cautious approach ahead of the Derivatives expiry week and GDP data scheduled this Friday," suggests a report from Anand Rathi Research.

Meanwhile, the foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net Rs 114.81 crore on 26 May, as per provisional data. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 123.85 crore on 26 May, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

RUPEE

The rupee has breached the 64 level in opening trades, down 7 paise to 64.05 a dollar from 63.98% in the previous session.

RESULTS CALENDAR

Aban Offshore, Bata India, Engineers India, GAIL (India), Jindal Steel, Reliance Infra, Tata Comm and TTK Prestige will declare their Q4 results during the day.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks sagged and the dollar stood tall on Wednesday on growing prospects the Federal Reserve was on track to raise interest rates later this year and concerns that financial woes could engulf Spain in addition to Greece.

Taking a lead from Wall Street's slide, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan declined by 0.3% with Australian and South Korean shares suffering losses. The Hang Seng, Kospi, Straits Times and Jakarta indices shed around 1% each; the Shanghai and Taiwan indices, however, ended in the green.

The Dow and S&P both lost 1% on Tuesday on Greek debt concerns and after upbeat U.S. economic data added fuel to expectations that the Fed will raise rates sooner rather than later.

SECTORS AND STOCKS

All the sectoral indices are in the red, with auto, IT and metal stocks doing the most damage.

In the auto space, Tata Motors has tanked 5.3% to Rs 470 after the company reported lower-than-expected consolidated net profit at Rs 1,717 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015 (Q4) on account of lower-than-expected operating performance at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and mark-to-market (MTM) loss provisioning at JLR (on commodity hedges and revaluation of foreign currency debt). M&M and Maruti are among the other key losers, shedding 0.5%-1% each.

In the IT space, Tech Mahindra nosedived 13% at Rs 557 after its consolidated net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 472 crore, down 23% versus Rs 614.2 crore in the year-ago period. Infosys, Wipro and NIIT lost around 1% each.

In the metal space, Jindal Steel, Vedanta and Hindalco shed about 1% each.

On the other hand, BHEL has added about 1% despite posting a 52% decline in net profit during the fourth quarter ended March on slowdown in project execution. Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto and ONGC have added 0.5% -2% each.

The market breadth is weak.Out of 1,352 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 447 advancing stocks as against 870 declines.