Nifty breaks 8,500, BSE Midcap index falls 1%; Tata Steel, ONGC drag

At 15:05 PM, the benchmark S&P Sensex was down 76 points at 27,451 and the Nifty50 index was down 19 points at 8,495

Markets remained rangebound in noon trades on Thursday as gains in metals and telecom stocks helped cap further downside.

At 15:05 PM, the benchmark S&P Sensex was down 76 points at 27,451 and the Nifty50 index was down 19 points at 8,495. In the broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were trading flat with mixed bias.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities worth Rs 667 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

ECONOMY

A solid and accelerated upturn in incoming new business helped push up growth in India's manufacturing activity in October, the widely tracked Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index showed.

After falling to 52 in September due to a slack in new orders, PMI in October bounced back to 54.5, near to the 43 month high of 5.7 seen in August.

STOCKS

Hero MotoCorp was up nearly 2% after the company said its total motorcycle sales rose 3.65% to 6.63 lakh units in October 2016 over October 2015.

State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank have cut their respective lending rates for home loans to boost housing credit during the festive season. SBI has slashed interest rates by 0.15 per cent for its home loans up to Rs 75 lakh, while ICICI Bank is offering overdraft facility along with home loan. SBI was down 0.8% while ICICI Bank was trading with marginal gains.

Hindalco was up over 5% on upgrade by a foreign brokerage and increased the target price to Rs 190 per share.

Other gainers include, index heavyweights ITC and Reliance Industries up 0.4%-0.9% each.

ONGC was down 2.4% after the stock was traded ex-dividend from today. The company's board at its meeting held on October 27, 2016 announced an interim dividend of Rs 4.50 per equity share.

Among others, Shares of sugar producers were trading higher by 15% on BSE after most of them reported robust earnings for the second quarter ended September 30, 2016. Dhampure Speciality Sugars, Ponni Sugars (Erode), Rana Sugars, Simbhaoli Sugars, Uttam Sugar Mills, Thiru Arooran Sugars, Sakthi Sugars and Mawana Sugars were among  few trading higher between 5% and 15%.

Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals (GNFC) has tanked over 19% on the back of heavy volumes.
The Exchange has sought clarification from GNFC, with reference to news flashed on ET NOW dated November 03, 2016 stating "Dahej TDI plant shut down post gas leak”, BSE said.

Bharti Infratel extended gains and was up over 3% amid a media report which suggested that the private equity heavyweight KKR and pension giant Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) are eyeing stake in the company.