Nifty hovers around 8,500; HUL falls over 2%, Tata Motors gains

Markets have turned flat after making a marginally positive opening tracking an overnight rally on Wall Street while mixed cues from Asia capped upside gains.

At 9:58 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 39 points at 27,708 and the Nifty50 was down 9 points at 8,500. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are trading marginally positive.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 599 crore, as per provisional stock exchange data.

In overseas markets, most Asian stocks edged lower today as a downturn in crude oil curbed the enthusiasm from fresh record highs on Wall Street. A failed coup in Turkey had dented risk sentiment and bolstered the perceived safe-haven yen before it ran its course.

US stocks eked out small gains Monday pushing both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index to fresh all-time closing highs and the Nasdaq Composite Index to its highest finish of 2016.

Back home, UltraTech Cement and Wipro will announce Q1 results today.

Tata Steel said it will seek shareholder approval at an annual general meeting (AGM) on 12 August 2016, to issue non-convertible debentures on private placement basis worth Rs 10000 crore. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday. The stock is up almost 1%.

Hindustan Unilever is the top loser down over 2% post its first quarter earnings. The company reported an increase of 9.79% in standalone net profit to Rs 1,173.90 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.

Tata Motors has extended gains and is the top Sensex gainer, up almost 2%. Overseas arm Jaguar Land Rover recently reported 22% jump in global retail sales to a record 2,91,556 units in the first half this year riding on robust demand in Europe and the UK.

Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Energy acquired the 500-megawatt (Mw) power plant of debt-laden Jaiprakash Power Ventures at Bina in Madhya Pradesh for Rs 2,700 crore, 10 months after the two firms got into a binding agreement. Shares of Jaiprakash Power Ventures have surged almost 8% while JSW Energy is up over 1%.

YES Bank has slipped by neraly 1%. Rating agency Moody’s on Monday said YES Bank’s baseline credit assessment of “Ba1” reflected potential weaknesses in funding and liquidity profile.

Shares of Mindtree have slumped over 6% after the IT firm posted a 3.7% drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 123.5 crore in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal.