Markets slip amid weak global cues; Nifty holds 8,200

Financials were the top losers along with select pharma shares

Benchmark share indices were trading with marginal losses tracking fall in Chinese shares and a weak opening of European stocks.

At 1:05pm, the 30-share Sensex was down 79 points at 27,228 and the 50-share Nifty was down 33 points at 8,228.

"There are no short-term triggers and markets will be broadly tracking global cues," says Mayuresh Joshi, Fund Manager, Angel Broking.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were down 0.4-0.6% each. Market breadth was weak with 1,382 losers and 1058 gainers on the BSE.

The Indian rupee was trading lower at 65.19 against the US dollar on dollar demand from importers while weaknes in domestic equities also dampened sentiment.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 523 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Further, the World Bank on Tuesday lowered its 2015 forecast for crude oil prices from $57 per barrel in its July report to $52 per barrel, a development that could bring in additional savings to the Indian treasury.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian markets were trading mixed with Chinese share witnessing profit taking. The benchmark Shanghai Composite was down 3.6% while Hang Seng was down 0.4%. However, Japanese shares ended higher with Nikkei ending 1.9% higher while Straits Times was flat with positive bias.

European shares were trading lower on the back of lower-than-expected earnings from select Sweden-based banks. The CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were down 0.1-0.2% each.

EARNINGS CORNER

Bajaj Auto, Wipro, Cairn India, Idea Cellular, IRB Infra, JSW Steel, KPIT Tech, Mahindra Finance will unveil their secong quarter earnings today.


SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Realty was the top loser down 2.3% followed by Bankex down 1.2% among others. BSE IT and Metal indices were among the gainers.

In the financial segment, ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and HDFC were down 0.3-2% each.

HDFC Bank trimmed early losses  after the private sector lender today reported a 20% jump in net profit to Rs 2,869 crore for the July-September quarter. It had posted a net profit of Rs 2,381 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Hero MotoCorp was up 0.5% after it reported a 1.1% rise in its second quarter net profit, beating Street estimates.  

Bharti Airtel was up nearly 2% after it completed the sale of 8,300 mobile towers in seven African countries for $1.7 billion (Rs 11,000 crore).  

Cipla was up 0.5% after losses in the previous session as the USFDA made adverse observations regarding manufacturing practices at drug maker Cipla's Indore plant.

RIL trimmed early gains and was trading flat. The Mukesh Ambani-led company might take a write-down on the KG-D6 block. Those close to the development said RIL might account for the losses in its books at the end of this financial year.

Maruti Suzuki was down 1%. The auto major's royalty payment to its parent, Japan’s Suzuki, has again caught the attention of corporate governance firms and proxy advisors. As percentage of its profit, the royalty payment by India’s biggest passenger car maker has nearly tripled from 13 per cent in 2005-06 to 36 per cent of profit before tax and royalty in 2014-15.

Tata Steel was up 1.3%. The steel major may cut 1,200 jobs at its UK long products division as the company proposes to stop making steel plates.

Among other shares, Shriram Transport Finance was down over 5% at Rs 923 after the Reserve Bank of India in a release on Thursday disallowed further purchases of equity shares of the company through stock exchanges by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and Registered Foreign Portfolio Investors.

Aksh Optifibre was down nearly 5% at Rs 18 after the company said that Hon'ble High Court of Rajasthan has admitted a winding up petition against the Company, being Corporate Guarantor, for the alleged / disputed liability of its subsidiary.