Nifty holds 7,700 amid choppy trades

Financials were among the top losers ahead of the RBI policy tomorrow while oil shares dipped on weak crude oil prices

Benchmark share indices continued to remain choppy with auto shares in top gear while profit taking in financials ahead of the RBI policy meet tomorrow capped further upsides.

At 1:10pm, the 30-share S&P BSE Sensex was down 15 points at 25,255 and the Nifty50 was up 4 points at 7,717.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were trading flat with mixed bias. Market breadth was firm with 1,330 gainers and 993 losers on the BSE.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 214 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

SECTORS & STOCKS

IT and Auto sector are the top sectoral indices while FMCG, Bankex, Realty, Oil and Gas indices are the top losers.

In the financial segment, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Axis Bank and SBI were down 1%-1.3% each.

Auto stocks continued to trade firm amid robust sales in March.  In the auto pack, Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp, TVS Motors, Maruti SuzukiBajaj Auto and M&M up between 0.5%-1.5% each.

Hero MotoCorp was up 0.3% on the back of 14% sales growth year-on-year. Tata Motors was up 1.5% on the back of strong growth in the commercial vehicles segment and higher US JLR sales.

M&M was up nearly 3% after Mahindra Holiday & Resorts India in a release said that Holiday Club Resorts Oy, Finland, step-down subsidiary of the company has disinvested its entire stake in three subsidiaries namely, Kiinteisto Oy Jalomella, Kiinteisto Oy Outapalas and Kiinteisto Oy Ulkuvuoma, Finland, effective from March 31, 2016.

HCL Technologies will acquire Mumbai- based engineering services company Geometric for Rs 1,283 crore ($188 million) in a share-swap deal.  HCL Tech is up 1.5% while Geometric has surged 18%.

IT major Infosys is up nearly 2%. Reports suggest that co-founder NS Raghavan along with wife Jamuna Raghavan have acquired shares worth Rs 94.56 crore of the company via an open market transaction.

FMCG major ITC is down over 2% after the company said it has been compelled to shut its cigarette factories with effect from April 01, 2016 until clarity emerges in the current uncertain state of the rules on health warning.

Oil shares eased tracking weakness in crude oil prices. ONGC, Cairn India and Oil India were down 0.6%-1.6% each.

Among others, Godrej Consumer Products were up over 2% at Rs 1,423 after the company said it has acquired 100% equity stake in Strength of Nature LLC (SON), a leading company of hair care products for women of African descent.