Markets slip led by Infrastructure, IT stocks

BSE- mid-cap & small-cap underperformed benchmark indices

Indian shares declined in late afternoon trades on Thursday as investors booked profits in capital goods  and Information Technology stocks along with selective mid-cap, small-cap companies.

At 2:15PM, the 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange declined 42 points and traded at 19,622 and the 50-share Nifty fell 14 points at 5,957 in late trades.

Software companies fell on caution ahead of Infosys' Oct-Dec earnings this Friday. The bellwether stock of Information Technology index, will unveil its third quarter performance amid fear software maker may cut its revenue guidance for the next quarter.

Meanwhile, shares in Indiabulls Power Ltd and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd dropped after Barclays Capital and Citigroup warned two thermal power projects that the companies were involved with could have been held up, reports showed.

Asian markets, however, traded with a positive bias after Chinese trade data. In China, exports rose 14% in December from a year earlier compared to analysts  forecast figure of 4% while imports gained 6% indicating stronger domestic demand.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.6% to 23,354, Taiwan's Weighted index rose 1% to 7,815,  Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.01% to 3,220 . Also China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.4% to 2,284 while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.7% to 10,652.

European markets traded mixed ahead of the European Central Bank meeting later in the day where the central bank is expected to keep interest rates steady.

France's CAC down 0.32% to 3,706, Germany's DAX rose 0.1% to 7,725 while UK's FTSE was up 0.11% to 6,105.

Back home, barring auto index, all sectoral indices dropped with real-estate, power, metals, capital goods sectors leading declines on BSE.

Among key Sensex stocks,  Bharti Airtel declined 1.4% , Hindalco and Sterlite dropped 1.5% and 0.5% respectively, BHEL declined 2%, ICICI Bank shed 1%, TCS and Infosys were down 1% and 0.3% whiel Reliance Industries fell 0.27% on BSE.

Among gainers, Tata Motors gained 2.2%, ONGC  rose 1.4%, SBI & HDFC Bank was up 1%, Wipro  gained 0.5% while Coal India rose 1% on BSE.

Among other key notable movers, Arshiya International has tanked almost 20% second day in a row and locked in lower circuit of Rs 77.95 on BSE with no buyers on the counter after the company said that it has removed non-performing employees.

Bajaj Finance has moved higher by 2% at Rs 1,393 after the company announced rights issue plan.

Tata Motors is trading higher by 3% at Rs 335, extending its previous day’s 4% rally, after the company’s ADR (American Depository Receipts) surged over 6%, ahead of its Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit's wholesale volume numbers, which are scheduled to be released early next week.
 
The broader markets declined with mid-caps and small-caps  falling 0.6% on BSE.

The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,966 stocks traded, 1,754 stocks declined compared to 1,094 advances on BSE.