Nifty holds 8,100 amid consolidation; Metal shares shine

Markets continue trade with marginal losses amid consolidation with technology and auto shares contributing the most to the decline on the benchmarks after after IT giant TCS Q2 results missed the street expectations following the IT bell weather Infosys indicating tough times in the latter half of the financial year for Indian IT companies.

At 10:30 AM, the Sensex is down 34 points at 26,813 and the Nifty has lost 9 points at 8,123. 

Hindalco, Vedanta, Tata Steel from the metal pack are up between 2-4%.

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(updated at 10:30 AM)

Markets have trimmed losses after starting the session on dismal note after IT giant TCS Q2 results missed the street expectations following the IT bell weather Infosys indicating tough times in the latter half of the financial year for Indian IT companies.

Meanwhile, key corporate earnings to be posted by the FMCG major HUL will be keenly awaited by the participants. Zee Entertainment Enterprises will also declare its Q2 September 2015 result today.

To add to the woes of the investors, Asian peers are showing weakness tracking losses on the Wall Street as the drop in crude prices along with the consumer price data from China which has kept the investors on their toes. 

Moreover, a notable macro data wholesale price index (WPI) for September will be released today.

At 9:35 am, the Sensex lost 46 points to quote at 26,801 and the Nifty slipped 19 points to trade at 8,115.

Among broader markets, BSE Midcap index has slipped by 0.03% and the BSE Smallcap index is trading marginally positive. The market breadth is positive with 877 advances and 441 declines.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 272.61 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

MARKET VIEW

According to Anand Rathi’s morning note, “Overall Nifty has been consolidating in a range from 8,080 to 8,244 zones from last six trading sessions but a pause in positive momentum after a smart rally is giving an early sign of caution in the market. It failed to continue the trend of making higher highs and now, it needs to cross and hold above 8200 levels to continue the positive move towards 8,280 and 8,330 zones. While if it fails to hold 8,100 zones then short term trend may get in the grip of profit booking to drag the index towards 8,000-7,980 zones.”

The note further adds, “If Sensex sustains above 27,000 levels then buying interest may come back to see the index towards 27,250 and 27,500 levels while if it fails to hold 26,750 levels then profit taking may take the index towards 26,500 and 26,250 levels."

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian shares tottered on Wednesday, taking cues from Wall Street's losses and pressured by a continued selloff in oil as investors awaited consumer price data from China this session.

Faced with concerns about a global slowdown, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Wednesday that it will ease its monetary policy for the second time this year by slowing the pace of the Singapore dollar's appreciation.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.3%, while Japan's Nikkei stock index shed 1.1%.

On Wall Street on Tuesday, stocks slipped, with the S&P 500 touching a fresh seven-week high before ending solidly down. S&P 500 e-mini futures edged down about 0.1% in Asian trading.

TCS Q2 EARNINGS

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) , India's largest software-services exporter, reported a 5.8% rise in revenue at Rs 27,165 crore for the quarter ended September 2015. It was Rs 25,668 crore in the previous quarter ended June 2015.

The company has missed market estimates for the fifth straight quarter. Bloomberg estimates had expected revenue to be Rs 27,229 crore. As per IFRS, the net profit rose 6.1% to Rs 6,055 crore as against Rs 5,709 crore in June 2015.

TCS has declared a second interim dividend of Rs 5.50 per share for the year ending 31 March 2016 (FY 2016).

Shares of TCS are down by over 4%, quoting at Rs 2,490.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Consumer Durables and IT indices are up almost 1% followed by counters like Auto and banks, both declining marginally. However, defensive sectors like FMCG and pharma are trading marginally positive. BSE Metal index are up almost 1%.

The losers from the Sensex pack are TCS, ICICI Bank, Cipla, Tata Motors and Coal India.

Maruti Suzuki India is eyeing leadership in the premium hatchback segment with the upcoming model Baleno slated to be introduced later this month. Shares of Maruti Suzuki are trading marginally lower.

On the gaining side, Hindalco, Vedanta, Tata Steel, Lupin and Sun Pharma are up 1-2% each.

Among other shares, private sector lender DCB Bank slumped by 20% after reporting 10.1% decline in net profit to Rs 36.93 crore for the second quarter ended September.


With BS Reporter & Reuters input