Markets extend losses; Nifty slips below 8,350

Profit booking was seen in Tata Motors and select index heavyweights such as ITC among others

Markets extended losses in late morning trades as investors booked profits at higher levels after sharp gains in the previous six sessions.

Meanwhile, focus will be on the Cabinet expansion scheduled to take place today at 11am.

At 10:55am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 94 points at 27,185 and Nifty50 was down 31 points  at 8,340. In the broader market, the BSE MIdcap and Smallcap indices were trading flat with negative bias.

Tata Motors was the top Sensex loser down over 1% on profit taking after recent gains post robust JLR sales in June.

ITC was down 0.5% as the stock has turned ex-bonus from Friday.

Telecom majors such as Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular were down over 1% each. Reports suggest that telecom companies are likely to spend around Rs 1 lakh crore towards acquiring spectrum in the upcoming auctions.

Among others, shares of fertiliser companies have dipped up to 14% on the BSE in intra-day trade after the government announced reduction in prices of key fertilizers. Coromandel International, Zuari Global, National Fertilisers, Zuari Agro Chemicals, Chambal Fertilisers and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) were down more than 1% as compared to 0.15% decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

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(updated at 9:40am)
Markets opened flat with negative bias on Tuesday, amid mixed Asian cues, as investors turned cautious after gains in the previous six sessions. Further, investors are also keenly awaiting the announcement of Cabinet expansion later today.

At 9:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 41 points at 27,238 and Nifty50 was down 17 points  at 8,353.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 182 crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

At least 19 new ministers are to be sworn in today. According to reports, the appointment of new ministers is to ensure the delivery of promises the government made in its Budgets and the BJP manifesto.

STOCKS

ITC extended losses after the stock has been quoting as ex-bonus. The board had approved bonus issue in the ratio of one share for every two held.

L&T was down 0.5% after the stock gained in the previous sessions following the annoucement of an IPO by its subsidiary L&T Infotech from July 11.

Tata Motors which had gained on the back of robust JLR sales in the previous session was down 0.5%

SBI was also down 0.5%. The PSU banking major sold 5% stake in National Stock Exchange for a consideration of Rs 911.25 crore.

ICICI Bank was the top Sensex gainer up over 1% amid reports that the private lender has sold part of Essar Steel loans to Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company.

Adani Ports extended gains and was up nearly 1%. The board approved exploring the acquisition of TM Harbour Services Private Limited which is engaged solely in providing Tug Services to The Dhamra Port Company Ltd. (DPCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.

Auto major M&M was trading with marginal gains on reports of upgrade by a domestic brokerage.

Among other shares, Techno Electric & Engineering Company has surged 9% to Rs 630, also its 52-week high on the BSE, after the company announced that the board will meet on July 14 to consider issue of bonus shares.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks retreated on Tuesday as investors booked profits at higher levels after steady gains in the previous five sessions. Shares in Japan and Hong Kong were among the top losers in the region with benchmarks Nikkei and Hang Seng down over 0.8% each. However, Shanghai Composite was trading with marginal gains.

US financial and commodities markets were closed on Monday for Independence Day.

European stocks also ended lower with bank shares leading the decline. Among the major benchmarks in the continent, FTSE-100 and CAC-40 ended down 0.9% each while Germany's DAX settled 0.7% lower.