Nifty hovers around 7,970; IT, pharma gains

ICICI Bank, L&T, ITC and ONGC among the top losers

After a brief opening in red, benchmark indices edged higher on account of gains in IT and pharma names. At 1035 hrs, the Sensex was up 37 points at 26,663 and the Nifty edged higher up five points to trade at 7,973.

The Rupee was trading at 61.40 to a Dollar as compared to the Friday's close at  61.14/15. Rupee gave up most of its gains from Friday when currency rebounded from a one-and-a-half month low of 61.62.

In individual names, Mayur Uniquoters surged 10% to Rs 454 after DSP Blackrock Mutual Fund bought about 3% stake in the textile company for Rs 51 crore through open market transactions.

Suzlon Energy was locked in lower circuit for seven straight trading sessions, down 5% at Rs 13.60 on BSE, after fresh equity shares following the conversion of the company's foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) began to trade from September 19, 2014.
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(Updated at 1035 hrs)
In line with weak Asian cues, the benchmark indices started on a flat note with a negative bias. The one weighing on the indices were ICICI Bank, L&T, ITC and ONGC in opening deals.

At 0916 hrs, the Sensex was down 42 points at 26,583 and teh Nifty gave off 14 points to trade at 7,955.

However, some buying was visible in the broader markets. The mid and smallcap indices gained 0.4% each.

Sectors & Stocks

Defensive like IT and Health Care indices up 0.2% and 0.8% were the preferred pockets. Realty index up 0.3% was the only other sectoral index in green on BSE.

Among the ones in red were Capital Goods, FMCG, Metal and Oil & Gas indices down 0.3-0.6%.

The top gainers among the Sensex-30 were pharma names like Sun Pharma, Dr Reddys and Cipla up 0.6-2%.

BHEL, Tata Steel, Infosys, RIL, and Wipro up 0.2-1% were some the notable gainers.

Financial names like HDFC twins, SBI and Axis Bank added 0.2-0.5% ahead of the RBI Policy tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, HUL, M&M, ITC, Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite and Hero MotoCorp down 0.5-1% were the top draggers.

The market breadth was positive on BSE owing to the strength in broader markets. 1,120 stocks advanced while 317 stocks declined on BSE.

Asian Market

Asian shares shrugged off Friday's Wall Street rebound in the face of political unrest in Hong Kong.Hong Kong shares dropped 2.3% to three-month lows in the worst unrest since China took back control of the former British colony two decades ago.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.7%, hitting its lowest level since mid-May.

Even the usually calm Hong Kong-dollar, which is pegged to a narrow band against the U.S. dollar, slipped 0.1% to 7.761 against the greenback, its lowest level since March, as the street clashes affected some banks' operations.

Markets in mainland China have so far weathered the storm, however, with Shanghai shares rising 0.3%.

Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.7% after U.S. shares bounced on Friday from sell-off the day before, with the yen's weakness flattering the export sector.