Nifty below 6,700 on profit taking; bluechips drag

Weakness in financials, ITC and Infosys weigh

Markets have given off morning gains as profit taking in financials, ITC and Infosys weighed on the indices.

At 1030 hrs, the Sensex was down 42 points at 22,317 and the Nifty slipped marginally below the 6,700 levels at 6,686.

In the broader markets, midcap index turned flat with a positive bias while the smallcap index retained its opening gains at 0.4%.

Capital Goods, Oil & Gas, Metal and Auto were the only indices in green, up 0.2-0.5%.
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(Updated ta 1040 hrs)
Markets edged higher after a flat opening as gains in SBI, ITC helped the benchmark indices gain in opening trades.

At 0930 hrs, the Sensex was up 43 points at 22,402 and the Nifty gained 23points to open above 6,700 levels at 6,717.

In the broader markets, the small and midcap indices gained 0.3% each, marginally outperforming the BSE benchmark index.

On the sectoral front, Consumer Durables index down 1% was the top sectoral loser.

Bankex, Auto and IT indices were down 0.1% each.

Meanwhile, Metal, Oil & Gas, Power, Realty and Health Care indices gained 0.3-0.7%.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was up 3% at Rs 588 after the company announced that it will buy Ranbaxy Laboratories in an all-share deal, creating the world's fifth-largest generic pharma company.

Ranbaxy Laboratories however, is trading lower by 2.2% at Rs 449.

Tata Motors up 4.5% was the top Sensex gainer.

HUL, NTPC, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Sesa Sterlite up 0.7-1% were the other major gainers in the opening trades.

Among the ones in red were BHEL down 2.5% along with Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddys Lab and HDFC down 0.5-0.8%.

Market breadth was positive on BSE. 399 stocks advanced while 168 stocks declined on BSE.

Global Markets

Asian stocks were trading mixed on Monday while a stronger yen led to profit taking in Japanese stocks. The Nikkei was down 1.3%, Hang Seng was down 0.5% while Shanghai Composite was up 0.7%.

Markets in China and Thailand were closed for a holiday.

US stocks ended lower on Friday with biotech stocks witnessing profit taking for the second consecutive day.

According to the US non-farm payroll data, 192,000 jobs were added in March against expectation of 200,000 and addition on 197,000 jobs in February. However, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7%.

The Dow Jones ended down 1% at 16,413, the S&P 500 lost 1.2% to close at 1,865 and the tech-laden Nasdaq ended 2.6% lower at 4,128.