Markets erase early gains; Nifty below 8,650, JSPL down 5%

 

Benchmark indices have erased gained and are trading in a tight range with positive bias.

At 13:20 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 56 points at 28,494 and the 50-share Nifty gained 15 points at 8,648.

The top losers are Infosys, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Tata Power and Coal India. JSPL is down over 5%.

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Updated at 12:55

Markets have trimmed gains on account of profit booking at higher levels among metal and auto shares. Upside has been capped because of selling among IT major Infosys.

At 12:55 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 167 points at 28,605 and the 50-share Nifty gained 50 points at 8,683.

Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.5-0.6%. Market breadth is strong with 1,375 gainers and 1,146 losers on the BSE.

Further, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML) said on Tuesday that the Sensex is likely to touch 54,000 by end-2018, but will be rangebound-to-negative over the next few months, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 762.55 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 158.65 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

LEADERS & LAGGARDS

BSE Healthcare index has surged nearly 2% followed by counters like Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, FMCG, Metal, Oil & Gas, Power and Realty, all gaining by 1% each. However, BSE IT index is down 0.3%.

Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries, the pharmaceutical giant has surpassed the State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest public-sector lender in overall market capitalization (m-cap) ranking. The stock is up nearly 2%.  Among its peers, Cipla and Dr Reddy’s Lab have gained up to 3%.

Banks have shown healthy growth in their advance tax deposit this quarter, with the highest payer, State Bank of India, depositing Rs 1,750 crore, 20 per cent higher than in the corresponding period of the previous year. SBI is trading marginally lower.

According to sources, ICICI Bank and YES Bank have shown 32 per cent and 30 per cent jump in their tax deposit to Rs 1,295 and Rs 260 crore, respectively, in the quarter. Advance tax numbers are significant, as they are used by analysts to reverse-calculate profit before taxes.

Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank are trading higher up to 2%.

A strong rupee has casted its shadow on the IT pack. Infosys is down 0.6% while Wipro is trading with marginal gains.

Having failed to attract any Japanese or Korean shipbuilders to build LNG vessels in India, PSU firm GAIL (India) would reissue the multi-billion dollar tender with “changed norms”.

The gas marketing and trading company was forced by the government to buy one-third of LNG ships, required to ferry gas from the US starting 2017, from Indian manufacturers, according to media reports. GAIL is down 0.5%.

Selling is evident in the telecom major Bharti Airtel. The stock is down over 1% and has emerged as the top loser.