Markets retreat after hitting record highs

Markets trimmed gains after investors turned cautious and booked profits in index heavyweights

Markets which had surged to record highs trimmed gains after investors turned cautious and booked profits in index heavyweights.

At 11:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 29 points at 22,794 after hitting a record intra-day high of 20,853and the 50-share Nifty was up 4 points at 6,822 after hitting a record high of 6,838 so far.

"Ride the trend, trail your stop losses on Nifty to a support of 6650-6700 on Nifty spot on closing basis," says Kunal Bothra, technical analyst at LKP Securities.

The rupee was trading sharply lower at Rs 60.65 against its previous close of Rs 60.60 tracking weakness in Asian currencies.

Most Asian markets were trading lower tracking after stocks in China fell on concerns over liquidity and weak earnings from major corporates. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.7%, Hang Seng was down 0.3%, Nikkei slipped 0.4% while Straits Times was up 0.5%.

The BSE Oil and Gas index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices up 2.2% followed by Capital GOods, Realty and Consumer Durables indices which were up 0.6-1.1% each.

In the oil and gas space, Gail INdia, Reliance Industries and ONGC were up 1.4-2.5% each contributing the most to Sensex gains.

Among other Sensex gainers L&T was up 1.4% while HDFC Bank and HDFC which witnessed selling pressure yesterday rebounded amid short covering at lower levels.

IT majors also witnessed profit taking after recent gains post the March quarter earnings. Infosys and Wipro were down 0.5-1.4% each.

Sesa Sterlite which had gained sharply yesterday after SC lifted mining ban in Goa also witnessed profit taking and was down nearly 3%.

Other Sensex losers include FMCG majors ITC and HUL which were down 0.5-0.8% each.

Among other shares, South Indian Bank gained nearly 3% at Rs 25 in morning deals after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to buy further shares in the bank as FII holdings had slipped below the limit.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has dipped 2.3% at Rs 563 after the company said it has lost its appeal to invalidate Abbott Laboratories' TARKA (trandolapril/verapamil hydrochloride) patent.

In the broader market, BSE Mid-cap was up 0.4% and the BSE Small-cap index was up 0.6%.

Market breadth was positive with 1,283 gainers and 1,027 losers on the BSE.