Nifty below 8,100; HDFC Group shares slip

Markets continued to trade weak with HDFC Group and IT shares leading the decline

Benchmark shares indices continued to trade weak in late morning trades with HDFC Group and IT shares leading the decline.

The weak showing is primarily reflecting the caution in Asian markets as investors apprehend evidence of further contraction in Chinese manufacturing to emerge, particularly if the flash manufacturing PMI data to be released on Tuesday is seen treading below 50 mark.

At 11.40AM, the 30-share Sensex is down 105.52 points at 26,984.90 and the 50-share Nifty has shed 41.20 points at 8,080.25.

Both BSE Mid cap and Small Cap outperformed the Sensex with a gain of 0.19%  and a gain of 0.53% respectively.

Market breadth is positive with 1378 advances against 1061 declines.

Japan's Nikkei  declined 0.5% to 16,236.60  due to profit taking in Soft Corp bank which holds 30% stake in Alibaba. Hang Seng index was down 1.33% while loss at Shangai Composite was 1.48%.

In US markets losses posted by technology majors counteracted against the uplift generated by Alibaba's IPO resulting in flat closing at Dow Jones at 17,294 while Nasdaq registered a decline a 0.30% and closed at 4579.79.

The Scottish referendum generated positive sentiments in European markets. FTSE closed with a marginal gain of 0.27% while German DAX index and French CAC 40 closed flat.

Rupee strengthened as US dollar shed some of its recent gains and in traidng at 60.77 at 11.10 hrs. Foreign inflows will provide further boost to rupee in the lead up to the RBI's monetary meeting scheduled on September 30.

Sectors and Stocks

Consumer Durables Index is showing strong activity with a gain of 1.74% as the festive season is just round the corner.

Titan is trading with a gain of 1.40% and Blue Star with a gain of 0.54%. The biggest gainer in this sector is PC Jeweller with a gain of 13.40%

Auto Index gained 0.54%. Tata motors is trading with a gain of 1.87% as analysts have remained on bullish on its stocks.

Announcements of new investments have kept the Hero Motocorp stocks up with a gain of 1.25%.

Bajaj Auto witnessed positive acticity  following Delhi HC rejection of the PIL arguing for a ban on quadricycles.

ONGC is attracting investors following the announcement that it will begin oil production from KG Block in 2019 and is trading with a gain of 1.65%

Among Auto majors, Maruti Suzuki is in decline with a loss of 0.79%. It may be recalled that last week its Chief Operating Officer, Mayank Pareek had resigned.

After strong performance during last week pharma stocks have come under pressure due to profit booking.

Cipla is trading with a loss of 2.36% and Dr Redy's Lab is in the red with 1.36% decline.

Also, profit booking in IT stocks after they posted gains in the range of one to four percent last week has kept their stocks bogged down.

Infosys and TCS are among the biggest losers with a decline of 1.70% and 1.04% respectively.