Markets off day's high; ICICI Bank, L&T top losers

The benchmark indices retreated from their day’s high in the afternoon trade led by losses in index heavyweights such as Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank as sentiment remained cautious ahead of Budget 2017, to be unveiled on February 01.
 

The S&P BSE Sensex managed to hold above 27,000, while the broader Nifty50 continued to face resistance at 8,400-mark. 
 

At 2:30 pm, the Sensex was trading at 27,075, up 41 points, while the Nifty was quoting 8,371, up 22 points. 
 

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices outperformed the headline indices by rising 0.3% each.
 

The market breadth remained strong with 1,423 advances over 1,092 declines. 162 shares remained unchanged. 
 

Sectorally, BSE Metal (up 1.5%) and BSE Oil & Gas (up 1%) were performing well, while BSE Capital Goods (down 1%) and BSE Healthcare (0.6%) logged losses.  
 

IT stocks rose, led by Infosys and HCL Technologies, up as much as 0.98% to Rs 957 and 1.75% to Rs 853, respectively. Infosys shares were down nearly 3% last week.
 

Kalpataru Power Transmission rose as much as 4.4% to Rs 276 after the company said it received new orders worth over 8.25 billion rupees ($121.24 million).
 

RBL Bank rallied 7% to Rs 393 after the bank reported a 59% year on year (YoY) increase rise in net profit at Rs 129 crore for the third quarter ended December 2016 (Q3FY17) on back of higher interest as well as non-interest income. The private sector lender had reported profit of Rs 81 crore in the same period last fiscal year.
 

Amtek Auto gained nearly 4% to Rs 35 on reports the debt-ridden auto-component maker has moved closer to pare its debt burden by the middle of 2017.
 

Globally, Asian indices were mixed after U.S. President Donald Trump declared his intention to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but did not spring any negative surprises.