Nifty falls below 8,700 mark; broader markets outperform

After a splendid rally on the Budget day, the benchmark indices on Thursday lost steam to trade flat as investors read into the fine-prints of Budget document. 

However, globally, US Federal Reserve keeping the interest rates unchanged in its policy meeting on Wednesday, capped losses. 

At 11:40 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 28,090, down 51 points, while the Nifty50 was ruling at 8,691, down 25 points. 

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap index outperformed the headline indices to rise 0.3% each.

“Due to this massive broad-based rally, the Nifty almost tested our expected level of 8,737 on Wednesday. We continue to believe the trend is so strong and one should look to ride the tide rather than looking for resistances or overbought conditions. The Nifty is poised for higher levels of 8,805-8,893. On the flipside, 8,672-8,620 would act as a strong support zone,” said Angel Broking in a technical note. 

Meanwhile, on Wednesday foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 93 crore, while domestic institutional investors purchased net equities to the tune of Rs 1,134 crore. 

Sectors and stocks

Tata Motors fell over 2% to Rs 530 after the auto major posted a 1% fall in total sales in January at 46,349 units compared to 47,035 units in the same month last year. Domestic sales of Tata Motors' commercial and passenger vehicles remained flat at 41,428 units in January over the same month of the previous year. 

Shree Renuka Sugars shed 6% to Rs 14 after the company reported a net loss of Rs 42 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2016. Its net loss stood at Rs 24.1 crore in the same quarter last year. 

Among gainers, ITC stock continued to gain for the second straight day to rise over 3% to Rs 280 after a lower than expected hike in excise duty on cigarettes in Budget. 

The company surpassed the HDFC Bank in term of market-capitalisation to secure the third position overall, just behind the Reliance Industries' m-cap of Rs 338,460 crore. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is at number one rank with m-cap of Rs 426,204 crore, the data shows.  

Earnings today

Marico, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, UFO Moviez India, GE Power India, Godfrey Phillips India, AstraZeneca Pharma India, and Vijaya Bank are among 73 companies which will announce their December quarter results today.

US Fed keeps rates unchanged 

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday in its first meeting since President Donald Trump took office, but painted a relatively upbeat picture of the US economy that suggested it was on track to tighten monetary policy this year.

The US central bank said job gains remained solid, inflation had increased and economic confidence was rising, although it gave no firm signal on the timing of its next rate move.

Global markets

Asian shares ticked up while the dollar was capped on Thursday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.2% while Japan's Nikkei ticked down 0.3%.

China market remains closed for the final day of Lunar New Year holidays that started on 27 January 2017.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 26.85 points, or 0.14% to end at 19,891, the S&P 500 gained 0.68 point, or 0.03%, to 2,279.55 and the Nasdaq Composite added 27.87 points, or 0.5%, to 5,642.65.