Nifty holds 7,200 amid rangebound trade; pharma shares gain

Pharma shares were the top gainers while Maruti Suzuki lost ground on suspension of production because of the ongoing agitation

Markets continued to remain rangebound after the first hour of trades as losses in FMCG major ITC and auto major Maruti Suzuki capped upside gains.

At 10:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 94 points at 23,803 and the Nifty50 was up 25 points at  7,236.

In the broader market, the BSE Mdicap and Smallcap indices extended gains and were up 0.6% each.

Market breadth improved with 1241 gainers and 549 losers on the BSE.

The India rupee was trading 23 paise lower at 68.69 hitting a fresh 30-month low against the US dollar tracking overseas gains in the American currency.

SECTORS & STOCKS

All sectoral indices were in the green except for the FMCG index.

Maruti Suzuki was down 2% after the company said it has temporarily suspended production at its Gurgaon and Manesar plants on account of the ongoing agitation in Rohtak and nearby areas with supplies of certain components being disrupted.

ITC was down 3% on worries that the forthcoming Budget would raise excise duty on cigarettes.

Reliance Industries and HUL contributed the most to the Sensex gains.

In the pharma space, Lupin, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Labs were up over 1.3%-1.9% each.

IT shares continued to trade weak with HCL Technologies, Wipro and Tech Mahindra 1%-2% each.

Among other shares, Divis Laboratories is trading higher by 2% at Rs 1,013 on the BSE after the drug firm said that the inspection conducted by the US health regulator of its Unit-2 facility at Visakhapatnam this month was successful.
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(updated at 9:35am)
Markets opened flat with losses in select auto shares and FMCG major ITC capping upside gains.

Further, expiry of February derivative contracts, movement of crude oil prices and the rupee will also dictate the trend on the bourses during the week.

At 9:35am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 56 points at 23,765 and the Nifty50 was up 16 points at 7,227.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.3% each.

Market breadth was positive with 763 gainers and 334 losers on the BSE.

"We expect the momentum to continue and the Nifty could now test the 7820 mark. On the flipside, 7127-7100 are now seen as immediate support levels for the Nifty. During the week, we expect stock specific action to continue and traders should concentrate on these moves by following strict stop losses," Angel Broking said in a note.

The February F&O contracts will expire on Thursday and the Railway Budget will also be presented on Thursday, February 25 followed by the Economic Survey.        

Foreign Institutional Investors were net sellers to the tune of Rs 192 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

SECTORS & STOCKS

All sectoral indices were in the green with Capital Goods index leading the gains along with Bankex, Metal and Healthcare indices among others.

Gains were led by index heavyweights Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and L&T which rose 1%-1.4% each.

Among auto shares, Maruti Suzuki was down 1.8% on concerns that the company has lost a day's production on the back of the ongoing agitation with operations suspended at Manesar and Gurgaon plants. Among others, Hero MotoCorp was down 0.3% and Bajaj Auto eased 0.1%.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian markets were trading firm with Chinese shares gaining the most. The benchmark Nikkei was up 1.8% while Japan's Nikkei was up 0.6%. Straits Times was up 0.3% and Hang Seng gained nearly 1%.

US markets ended mixed on Friday but posted their best week of 2016. The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 0.1% at 16,392, the Nasdaq ended up 0.4% at 4,504 and the broader S&P 500 ended nearly unchanged at 1,918.