Nifty holds 8,150 amid choppy trade

Sun Pharma was the top Sensex lower down over 6% after its fourth quarter earnings missed street estimates

Markets turned choppy in late trades recovering from their day's lows.

At 2:45pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 5 points at 26,730 and the Nifty50 was up 2 points at 8,181.

Meanwhile, the government is scheduled to announce the GDP for the fourth quarter ended March 2016 later today.

Sun Pharma was the top Sensex loser down 6% after its fourth quarter earnings were lower than street expectations.

IT exporters which had gained in the previous session eased on profit taking after the rupee firmed up against the US dollar.

Tata Motors continued to remain the top Sensex gainer up nearly 8% after robust March 2016 quarter earnings were above street expectations on the back of the performance of the company’s Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit.

Among other shares, Aurobindo Pharma has moved higher by 5% to Rs 795 on the BSE in noon deals after the company reported 39% year on year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 563 crore for the quarter ended March 2016 (Q4FY16) on the back of healthy growth in net sales.  Consolidated revenues grew 19% YoY at Rs 3,747 crore on YoY basis.
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(Updated at 12:45pm)
After logging gains for five straight sessions, key indices have decided to take a breather today as participants booked profits at attractive and higher levels. Anticipation for March quarter GDP data due to be unveiled later today has left investors unnerved.

By 12:45 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex slipped 62 points at 26,663 and Nifty50 dipped 13 points to trade at 8,163. 

The technology stocks have taken a hit today on the back of an appreciating rupee. TCS, Wipro and Infosys have dropped between 0.5%-2%.

Also, Sun Pharma is contributing the most to the losses and is down 6% as its quarter results miss the street expectations.

Utility vehicle and tractor manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra recorded a net profit growth of 6% during the March quarter but fell short of street estimates. The stock is down 0.7%.

Oil and exploration majors are incurring losses after the recent run up. ONGC, GAIL and RIL have lost between 0.5%-2.5%. 

On the flip side, Tata Motors is displaying a stellar rally and is up nearly 8% after its revenue and profit for the quarter came above street expectations on the back of the performance of the company’s Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit. Consolidated net profit rose to Rs 5,177 crore during the quarter, up 201% from Rs 1,716.5 crore a year ago. Net sales rose 18.76% to Rs 79,926.12 crore from a year ago. The profit was the highest in seven quarters.

Other auto stocks also joined the party with Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp up between 0.8%1.5%. Auto companies are due to unveil the auto sales numbers for the month of May tomorrow.  

Meanwhile, jewellery stocks edged higher on reports the government has rolled back its budget decision to apply 1% tax collection at source (TCS) on cash purchase of gold jewellery of Rs 2 lakh and above and raised the threshold to the earlier Rs 5 lakh with effect from 1 June 2016. Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (up 6.26%), Shree Ganesh Jewellery House (I) (up 5.38%), Tara Jewels (up 4.17%), Gitanjali Gems (up 3.09%), Titan Company (up 0.96%) and PC Jeweller (up 2.13%) edged higher.

State-owned NTPC climbed 1% after it registered an annual profit of Rs 10,243 crore during 2015-16, showing a mild decline from the previous year’s figure of Rs 10,291 crore.

The rally continues in Coal India with the stock up 0.3% after it announced a much-awaited price hike. On average, prices of coal sold through the fuel supply agreement (FSA) route have increased 6.3%.