Nifty holds 7,800 amid choppy trades; HDFC dips 2%

Banks, IT and pharma shares were among the top gainers while HDFC and NTPC were the top losers

Benchmark share indices which had rebounded in early trades on Tuesday amid short covering trimmed some of the gains on selling pressure at higher levels. However, selling by foreign funds amid a weakening rupee could weigh on the markets in the latter half of the trading session.

At 9:45AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 118 points at 25,860 and the 50-share Nifty was up 38 points at 7,847

The broader markets also rebounded from lower levels with both the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices up nearly 2% each. Market breadth was strong with 1,531 gainers and 148 losers on the BSE.

The Indian rupee was up 19 paise at 66.45 compared to the previous close on the back of positive trend in equities.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 5,275 crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Most Asian markets except China rebounded after the sharp drop in the previous session on concerns that the sluggish economic growth in China would spread to other global economies. Shanghai Composite was down 4.5% while Japan's Nikkei rebounded after opening nearly 4% lower. The benchmark Nikkei was up nearly 1% while Hang Seng gained 1.6% and Straits Times was up 1.5%.

Major US share indices witnessed a sell-off on Monday after the bloodbath seen in Asian markets because of concerns over China's economic growth slowdown. The Dow Jones plunged over 1,000 points intra-day only to recover in late trades led by
recovery in Apple shares. The Dow Jones ended down 588 points or 3.6% at 15,871.35, the broader S&P 500 ended down 78 points or 3.9% at 1,893.21 and the tech-laden Nasdaq dropped 180 or 3.8% to 4,526.25.

European share also witnessed mayhem to end nearly 5% lower on Monday after the sharp sell-off in Asia led China while the 1,000-point plunge on Wall Street in intra-day trade dampened investor sentiment. Among the major indices, FTSE-100 ended down 4.9%, CAC-40 dropped 5.7% and DAX ended down 4.9%.

SECTORS & STOCKS

All sectoral indices were in the green led by Realty, Consumer Durables, Bankex, Auto  and IT indices among others.

Financials and metal shares rebounded on shortcovering at lower after the sharp plunge in the previous session. ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank were the top Sensex gainers in the banking segment.

Among the index heavyweights Reliance Industries rebounded after dropping over 8% in the previous session. The stock was up 1.3%.

IT exporters such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS gained 1% in early trades.

Pharma stocks also firmed up on value buying at lower levels. Sun Pharma and Cipla were up nearly 2% each.

Among other shares, Jet Airways was up 4.9% on reports that the airline has lowered its base price of both business and economy classes for travel on international routes for a limited period in bid to increase market share.