Nifty slips closer to 7,700; auto stocks dip

Meanwhile, BSE shut all markets due to network outage

Nifty has slipped into the red, down 10 points at 7,715. Meanwhile the BSE has issued a statement that the exchange has decided to close all markets due to network outage. The network service vendor, HCL, is working to resolve the problem.
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(Updated at 1000 hrs)
Markets opened higher, building on yesterday's gains with the Nifty firmly trading above the key level of 7,700.

At 0935 hrs, the Sensex was up 87 points at 25,928 and the Nifty added seven points to trade at 7,732.

Broader markets started on a firm note with both the mid and smallcap indices up 0.4% each, outperforming the BSE benchmark index which was up nearly 0.3%.

Sectors & Stocks

All the sectoral indices were in green with gains of atleast 0.1%.

IT, Metal, Realty, Bankex, Consumer Durables and FMCG indices up 0.4-0.7% were the top sectoral gainers.

Auto index was marginally up by 0.1% was the only laggard. All auto majors like Maruti Suzuki, Baja Auto and Hero MotoCorp were weak in opening deals.

Some of the other names in red were GAIL, Hindalco, HUL and Dr Reddys, all down 0.1-0.7%.

Sesa Sterlite, BHEL, Tata Motors, ITC, SBI, HDFC Bank, Cipla and M&M up 0.5-1.5% were the top gainers.

IT majors, TCS and Wipro added 1% each.

The market breadth was positive on BSE. 707 stocks advanced while 174 stocks declined.

Global Markets

Asian stocks inched down from a three-year high in range-bound trading on Thursday, with investors waiting for the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report to see if the economy is gaining momentum.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.1% but within a stone's throw of Wednesday's three-year peak.

Tokyo's Nikkei shed earlier gains to lose 0.1%, although analysts expected a positive U.S. jobs data reading to make up for the modest loss.

Overnight in US, stocks ended one of their flattest sessions in years on Wednesday as a positive read on private sector employment wasn't enough to interest buyers ahead of the highly anticipated June payrolls report.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.12%, to 16,976, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.07%, to 1,975 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.02%, to 4,458.