Nifty facing resistance above 7,900; Sun Pharma up 5%

Markets remained range bound after a rebound in oil and metal shares helped offset losses in defensives

Benchmark share indices were trading in a narrow range in late morning deals as a rebound in oil and metal shares helped offset losses in defensives. However, selling by foreign funds continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

On Thursday, Nifty September F&O series ended lower after seven consecutive positive series. The F&O turnover stood at Rs 5.3 lakh crore.

At 1130 Hrs, Sensex is trading at 26,403 with a loss of 64 points. Nifty is at 7,891 with 20 points loss.

Foreign funds were sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 851 crore on Thursday, as per the provisional data on the stock exchanges.

In the broader market, BSE Mid cap is flat while Small Cap segment is outpeforming the Sensex with a marginal gain of 0.2 % .

Market breadth is positive with 1121 advances against 1072 declines.

Rupee is trading at 61.53 against US Dollar. Curb in Dollar appetite following sharp drop on Wall Street can provide some strength to the Rupee.

Asian Markets

Asian indices skidded in response to sharp overnight losses in the US markets which in turn had plunged on account of  profit booking in Apple stocks and reports about Russia considering to vest its courts with powers to seize foreign assets.

China's Shanghai Composite is trading flat at  2,345  and Hong Kong's Hang Seng has declined 109 points to trade at 23,658.  Japan's Nikkei 225 Average lost 192 points  to 16,182 and Singapore's Straits Times is flat at 3,286


Stocks and shares

With the possibility of an alert on its imports to the US diminishing, Sun Pharma stocks recovered sharply from early morning losses and is now the biggest gainer at Sensex with a gain of 5%.

The pharma company was in news for receiving an inspectional observations form 483 from Food and Drug  Administration (FDA) for its Halol plant, though, the FDA did not find any data integrity issues with the plant

Hindalco rebounded after disclosure by the company that despite the company estimated penalities to be around Rs 500 Crores, effects of escalation in production costs are not going to be significant. It is trading with a gain of 3%, and is the second biggest gainer at BSE.

Mahindra and Mahindra stocks are up as the company launches its new Scorpio model. It is trading with a gain of 1%

Rebound in Tata Steel has brought a gain of 1.5%.

Recovery is also seen in ONGC which had come under heavy pressure yesterday when government  again deferred decision on gas pricing. It ahs gained 1.5%.

Defensive stocks are under pressure with TCS, Infosys and HUL losing around 1%.

Profit booking in Coal India stock made it a laggard with a loss of 1.5%.

Among other stocks, Adani Enterprises is in focus on reports that the Australian government has approved the Carmichael Mine rail plan and is currently trading at a loss of 2%

On the sectoral front, Healthcare is the biggest gainer with 2% gain while Oil and Gas, Power and reality secotrs are currently flat.

Consumer Durables, IT and Teck sectors lost the most with declines around 1%