Markets trading marginally lower; M&M slips 3%

After touching record highs for three consecutive trading sessions, markets seem to take a breather today as investors turned cautious and booked profits at higher levels.

By 10:30, the Sensex was lower by 43 points at 23,827 mark and the Nifty slipped by 5 points at 7,104 levels.  

Adds Mohit Gaba, independent techncial analyst and trader,” there is a clear bullish bias on the market, Having said that, I would not take fresh positions given the results on the 16th. There is a small probability of a big down side risk as most of the positive news is priced in the vertical rally we have seen.”

On the global front, Asian shares flirted with three-week highs on Wednesday, while the euro wobbled close to five-week lows on heightened speculation of more European Central Bank stimulus next month.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.4% after hitting its highest level since April 23.

But Japan's Nikkei bucked the trend, slipping 0.3% and moving away from the previous session's 1-1/2-week high as investors took profits.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 2026.23 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods, IT, Oil & Gas and Auto indices have declined between 0.1-1%. However, BSE Metal and Realty index have surged by 2% each.

M&M is the top Sensex loser, down by over 2%. Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has dipped on the back of multiple block deals on the NSE and BSE.

Dr Reddy's Labs, which reported a lower-than-estimated net profit yesterday, is down nearly 2%.

Other notable losers are BHEL, ONGC, Infosys, Wipro, Maruti Suzuki and L&T.

On the gaining side, Tata Steel has surged by nearly 4% ahead of its Q4 results today. Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, Hero Moto, Sesa Sterlite and NTPC have gained between 1-2%.

The shares of public sector undertakings (PSU) banks are trading higher by up to 3% in an otherwise subdued market after a committee appointed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made some radical suggestions regarding the government’s control over nationalised banks.

Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Allahabad Bank are up 2-3% each, while State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, IDBI, Indian Overseas Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce are up 1% each on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained by almost 1% each.

The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,216 advancing and 835 shares declining.