Nifty hovers around 7,850; Infosys, Wipro top losers

The main losers on the Sensex are Infosys, Wipro, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs & TCS

Benchmark indices continue to remain volatile in a narrow range with Sensex and Nifty swinging between negative and positive zone.

At 13:00 PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 6 points at 26,266 and the 50-share Nifty was flat at 7,852.

Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have slipped between 0.3-0.4%.

The market breadth in BSE remains negative with 1,362 shares declining and 1,175 shares advancing.

The International Monetary Fund yesterday raised its growth forecast for India to 5.6% for FY 2015 from 5.4% predicted earlier. It has forecast 6.4% growth for India for FY 2016.

Further, the provisional data released by the stock exchanges after trading hours yesterday showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 332.84 crore on that day.

The rupee is trading at 61.44 per dollar vs previous close of 61.43/44.

Meanwhile, India's international border with Pakistan remains tense as firing continued in 7 sectors of Jammu and Kashmir, according to reports.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian share markets were mostly in the red on Wednesday as worries about waning global growth lifted safe-haven bonds, while shoving oil prices to their lowest in more than two years.

Extending a three-month-long decline, Brent oil sank $1.18 to $90.93 a barrel while U.S. crude tumbled $1.07 to $87.78. The protracted slide should be a windfall for consumer spending power, but is also a powerful force for disinflation in much of the developed world.

In Asia, Japan's Topix shed 1.1% while the Nikkei dropped 1.0%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1%, while Australia's main index lost 0.9%.

China's markets bucked the trend as they returned from a week-long break, with Shanghai up 0.5%, though Hong Kong shed 0.7%.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE IT index has slumped by nearly 4% followed by counters like Healthcare, TECk and Consumer Durables, all falling down between 0.3-3%. However, BSE Capital Goods index has surged by almost 2% followed by counters like Oil & Gas, Power, Realty and Banks, all gaining by 1% each.

The main losers on the Sensex are Infosys, Wipro, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Labs, TCS, Cipla and Sesa Sterlite, all slipping between 1-4%.

Infosys, TCS and Wipro were down 2-4%, contributing the most to the Sensex losses.

Infosys is the top Sensex loser, down over 4%. The company will keenly watch Infosys' commentary regarding changes in its strategy under the new CEO, Vishal Sikka, when the company unveils its Q2 September 2014 results on Friday.

On the gaining side, BHEL, L&T, ONGC, Tata Steel and NTPC have gained between 1-3%.

Capital Goods stocks have gained on renewed buying. L&T Technology Services, the wholly owned subsidiary of L&T, announced the intent to acquire the asset of US based Dell Product and Process Innovation Services, the engineering services division of Dell.

SMART MOVES

Shares of state owned oil marketing companies such as HPCL, BPCL and IOC are trading higher by up to 6% in otherwise subdued market on expectations that softening in Brent crude prices will help improve financials.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has gained nearly 6% to Rs 513, also its 52-week high during intra-day trade on National Stock Exchange. At 1245 hours, the stock trading 4.3% higher at Rs 506.

Shares of Punj Lloyd are up over 6% at Rs 38 after the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under ministry of commerce and industry cleared 33 big ticket defence deals, out of which 19 proposals were related to foreign direct investment (FDI).

KEC International has gained around 2% on BSE after getting new orders.