Markets remain subdued, IT & financials drag

Benchmark indices continue to trade in a narrow range with negative bias weighed down by software and financials shares.

By 10:15, the Sensex dipped by 45 points at 19,914 whereas the Nifty slipped by 17 points at 5,992.

According to Navneet Daga, Derivative Analyst, KR Choksey Securities, “Nifty had fallen below 6000 levels, we expect markets to consolidate and even give away some gains to move in tight range from 5900-6050 for the July series. Index option writing is advisable going for July series expiry.”

On the global front, Asian stocks erased early losses on Monday, while the Australian dollar popped higher as investors heaved a sigh of relief after a batch of Chinese data showed the slowdown in the region's economic powerhouse was not as bad as feared.   

China's GDP growth slowed in the second quarter to 7.5% year-on-year as weak overseas demand weighed on output and investment, lining up a test of Beijing's resolve to revamp the world's second-biggest economy in the face of deteriorating data.

Back home, the rupee today fell by 40 paise to 59.96 in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, weighed down by dollar's gains against other currencies in global markets.

On the sectoral front, BSE IT and Bankex indices have slipped by nearly 1% each. However, BSE Capital Goods, Realty, Healthcare and Oil & Gas indices have gained by nearly 1% each.

Tata Steel is the top Sensex loser, down by over 3%. Tata Steel's European arm has reported a record loss of 1.2 billion pounds for the year. Tata Steel Europe, Britain's largest steel producer, reported the losses for the year until March 31 as part of its latest results filed at Companies House in the UK.

Index heavyweight Infosys has dropped by over 2% on account of profit booking. The stock zoomed on Friday after witnessing a good set of Q1 numbers.

Financial and banking majors like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and HDFC have declined between 0.5-1%.

Other notable losers are Coal India, Tata Power, NTPC, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors.

On the gaining side, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Sterlite, L&T, Wipro and M&M have gained by 1% each.

Shares of state-owned oil marketing companies are trading higher in the range of 1-2% in early morning deals after these companies hiked price of petrol by Rs 1.55 a liter due to falling rupee and rising international oil prices.

Among the individual stocks, Indian Oil Corporation is up 2.2% at Rs 225, followed by HPCL (up 1.7% at Rs 237) and BPCL (up 1.5% at Rs 348) on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Kohinoor Foods is locked in upper circuit of 20% to Rs 46.05 on BSE after the company said its board approved to allot 7.05 million equity shares or 20% stake at price of Rs 160 per share to Al Dahra, an Abu Dhabi-based agri-specific company on preferential basis.

SpiceJet has surged 8.5% to Rs 30.05 on back of heavy volumes on buzz that the company is evaluating foreign direct investment (FDI).

The market breadth in BSE turns positive with 814 shares advancing and 499 shares declining.