Markets under pressure; RIL down over 1%

Traders cut their positions ahead of the truncated week and Q4 earnings from Infosys

Markets continue to remain under pressure with weakness in heavyweights like HDFC, RIL, Infosys and ICICI Bank weighing on the indices.

At 1310 hrs, the Sensex was down 112 points at 22,603 and the Nifty gave off 30 points to trade at 6,766.

However, the broader markets were resilient and outperformed the benchmark indices. The small and midcap indices were up 0.5-0.8% as compared to the 0.4% fall seen on the Sensex.

The only indices in green were Consumer Durables and Health Care indices were up over 1% each along with Realty index up 0.8%.
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(Updated at 1310 hrs)

Benchmark share indices were trading near their day's lows as traders cut their positions ahead of the truncated week ahead and fourth quarter earnings from IT major Infosys. Further, investors are also awaiting February IIP data due for release later in the day.

At 11:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 145 points at 22,570 and the 50-share Nifty was down 38 points at 6,758.      

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors continue to invest in Indian equities for the past few weeks and remained net buyers to the tune of Rs 343 crore yesterday as per the provisional data released on the stock exchanges.

The rupee was trading lower at 60.27 compared with its close of 60.07, tracking losses in most other Asian currencies. Traders are awaiting February IIP data due later in the day and consumer price inflation data next week. Further, weakness in equities is also weighing on the sentiment.

Asian markets were trading lower tracking weak global cues after major US stock indices witnessed a sell-off with the Nasdaq sliding over 3%. Stocks in Japan witnessed selling pressure tracking losses on Wall Street and appreciation in the yen against the US dollar. The Nikkei was down 2.6%, Shanghai was down 0.4%, Hang Seng slipped 0.6% and Straits Times was down 0.1%.

HDFC was down 2.8% and ITC slipped 0.8% contributing the most to the Sensex decline.

IT major Infosys was down 0.7% amid profit taking on growth concerns. The company is scheduled to announce its fourth quarter earnings next week. Wipro and TCS were down 0.5-1% each.

Bank shares remained weak after the RBI came down heavily on banks for charging different interest rates to customers with similar profiles, saying such discrimination cannot be accepted. HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank were down 0.5-1.2% each.

Auto shares also witnessed profit taking after domestic passenger car sales declined 5.08% to 1,71,489 units in March as compared to 1,80,675 units in the year-ago month. Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Mah & Mah were down 1-1.7% each. In the two wheeler segment, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were down over 1% each.

However, pharma shares continue to attract buying interest following a rebound in Sun Pharma which gained nearly 2%. Other gainers include Dr Reddy's Labs and Cipla.

Among other shares, Indusind Bank has weakened on the BSE after the RBI said the foreign investors would have to get its prior permission for buying shares in the bank. The stock is currently trading at Rs 496, down Rs 15 or 3%.

Shares of mid and small-cap companies continued their northward journey, with both the S&P BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices touching their respective fifteen-month highs, though the benchmark indices – the S&P BSE Sensex and the CNX Nifty are struggling to maintain the uptrend. BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.4% and Small-cap index was up 0.6%.

However, market breadth was firm with 1,188 gainers and 1,077 losers on the BSE.