Markets trim gains; Nifty slips below 8,850

Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Cipla and Maruti Suzuki are the top gainers

Benchmark indices are trading marginally higher, though on a divergent note, after hitting fresh record highs in opening deals as losses in information technology and select auto and pharmaceutical shares have capped the gains in financials and capital goods stocks.  
 
At 11:50AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 43 points at 29,321 and the 50-share Nifty was flat at 8,835.  
 
The Sensex has touched its new all-time high level of 29,456.63 and Nifty has hit its fresh record-high level of 8,878.20 in today’s session.
 

In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have performed better than the front-liners with gains of 0.9% and 0.7% each.  Market breadth in BSE is negative with 1,601 declines against 883 advances.  

 
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 2,020 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Buzzing Stocks
 
7 of the 12 sectoral indices of BSE are in green. BSE Capital Goods index has gained around 1.9% and is the top gainer followed by BSE Consumer Durables index, up 1.4% and BSE Realty index, up 1.3%. BSE IT index, down 1.3% is the top loser.
 
Financials are among the top gainers in today’s trade. Axis Bank has gained around 3%, ICICI Bank has gained around 2%, HDFC is up 1.8% and HDFC Bank is up 0.7%.

 
Capital Goods stocks too are trading higher. L&T has gained over 2% and BHEL is up around 1%.
 
Among auto stocks, Maruti Suzuki is up around 1.7% ahead of its results due later today while Tata Motors is the lead gainer from the pack and has gained over 2%.  However, Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp have declined around 1.9% and 1.1% each.
 
Pharma stocks are trading mixed. While Cipla has gained over 2%, Sun Pharm and Dr Reddys Lab have declined around 0.9% and 3.7% each.

IT stocks are under pressure in today’s session. Infosys has declined around 2.5% and TCS and Wipro are trading flat.  Wipro has been awarded a multi-year strategic infrastructure management contract by AIB, a leading bank in Ireland offering a full range of personal and corporate banking services.

Oil and gas shares are declining. RIL and ONGC have lost 0.2% and 0.4% each while GAIL is down 1.4%.  According to media reports,  Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is in the process of investing Rs 22,500 crore in redevelopment projects, to add capacity of 16.7 million tonnes of oil and 56 billion cubic metres of gas.
 
Coal India down 3.2% andHUL down 1.6% are other major losers.
 
Among other stocks, Rajesh Exports has rallied 15% on back of heavy volumes after the company announced its plans to foray into gold finance business.