Markets remain weak; Wipro falls 3%

Benchmark indices continue to trade in the negative zone due to persistent selling on the back of weak corporate earnings amid weakness in the global peers.

At 12:15 PM, the Sensex was lower by 84 points at 28,286 and Nifty slipped by 20 points at 8,569.

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.2%. The market breadth is positive, with 1,348 gainers and 1,033 losers on the BSE.

The lower than expected corporate earnings of the blue chips along with the unproductive monsoon session so far have weighed on the sentiment on Dalal Street.  In today’s trades, however, the market participants would eagerly anticipate the Q1 results of index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and Axis Bank.

On the global front, the Asian equities took a hit today as China's factory sector contracted by the most in 15 months in July as shrinking orders depressed output.

Also, officials from the lender institutions -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and IMF will be in Athens during the day to start detailed discussions with the Greek government.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 185.42 crore yesterday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

RUPEE

The Indian rupee, for the third consecutive day, is trading weak against the greenback. The rupee slumped by 17 paise to quote at Rs.63.93 on the back of the appreciation of the US Dollar against other major currencies as the US Federal Reserve prepares to hike rates.

RESULTS CALENDAR

Axis Bank, Reliance Inds, ABB, Bharat Electronics, Crompton Greaves, Kolte Patil Developers, Mahindra Finance, Supreme Inds and TVS Motors will announce their Q1 June 2015 result today.

SECTORS & STOCKS

Sectorally, BSE IT, Auto, Capital Goods and Metal indices are trading weak between 0.1-0.5% while Consumer Durables and healthcare sectors are trading strong, up between 0.3-1.2%

Wipro posted a 4% rise in its net profit to Rs 2,187.8 crore when compared with the corresponding quarter in 2014-15. The revenue at Rs 12,237 crore rose 10 %. On a sequential basis, net profit declined by 3.7% while revenue was largely flat when compared with Rs 12,142 crore in Q4 of FY15. The stock is down by 3.3%

GAIL reported a 32% slump in net profit for the quarter ended June 2015 on lower production and price realization. The company reported a net profit of Rs 424.14 crore during the quarter as compared to Rs 621.44 crore during the same period last financial year (2014-15). The stock is tdown over 2.6%.

A divergent trend is seen between Axis Bank and Reliance Industries ahead of their Q1 results. Axis Bank is up 0.5% while Reliance Industries is down 0.5%.

Lupin is down 1.5% reported a 16 per cent year-on-year drop in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended June.

Other notable losers are ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys, and ITC , down between 0.5-1.5%

On the flip side, Cipla, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel up between 1-1.3% on the Sensex.

Among other shares, Biocon is trading higher by nearly 4% on the NSE in an otherwise subdued market after the company reported a better-than-expected 23% year-on-year (YoY) growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 126 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Q1). The company had posted a profit of Rs 103 crore in the year-ago quarter.

SpiceJet informed that is not in a hurry to sell stake. It was reported that the airline is in talks with Qatar Airways. The stock is 6% on the BSE.