Nifty trades below 6,700 mark; BSE Midcap index up 1%

The market bredath in BSE remains firm with 1,159 shares advancing and 967 shares declining.

Benchmark indices continue to maintain a subdued weak trend weighed down by software and financial shares.

At 11:15 AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 62 points at 22,446 mark the broader 50-unit Nifty was trading at 6,696 levels, down 19 points.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 45.93 crore on Tuesday, 6 May 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Adds Ravi Nathani, Technical analyst, Nsetoday.com,”Nifty index is trading in a very narrow range of (6780-6680) trade above / below would add trigger in the direction. As short term trend is up on charts and index is trading very close to its support level, investors could hunt for opportunities to buy the Index stocks either at current market price or on a small correction with a strict stoploss of 6680 on closing basis.”

On the global front, Asian shares fell to a one-month low and the safe-haven yen hovered just below a multi-month high against the dollar in early trade on Wednesday as the heightened possibility of Ukraine slipping into civil war dampened risk sentiment.

Ukraine has so far experienced its deadliest week since the separatist uprising began, leaving less room for peace efforts.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6 percent after touching its lowest point since April 2. Japan's Nikkei lost 2.3 percent, tracking Tuesday's fall on Wall Street.

Back home, the rupee is trading at 60.04/05 versus its previous close of 60.11/12 on broad losses in the dollar versus other major and regional units, but a sharp fall will be averted on caution ahead of the national elections outcome next week.

On the sectoral front, BSE IT, TECk, Metal and Bankex indices have slumped between 0.1-1%. However, BSE Consumer Durables indices has surged by over 1% followed by counters like Capital Goods, Power, Oil & Gas and Healthcare, all gaining by nearly 1% each.

From the IT space, Wipro, Infosys and TCS have plunged between 1-2%.

UBS has downgraded Infosys to "sell" from "buy" and cuts its target price to 2,750 rupees from 4,050 rupees, saying a turnaround at the IT outsourcer could take longer than expected. Infosys is trading at 7 month low.

Other notable losers are Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, HDFC, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank and Maruti Suzuki.

On the gaining side, Sun Pharma, BHEL, L&T, Cipla and NTPC have gained between 1-2%.

Among other shares, Shriram City Union Finance is trading higher by 3% at Rs 1,258 on the back of heavy volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Gujarat Pipavav Port has soared 12% to Rs 100 after reporting a robust 73% year-on-year (yoy) rise in net profit at Rs 61 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014 (Q4), on the back of strong operational performance.

Titan is trading higher by 2% at Rs 278, extending its previous day's 3.4% gain, after reporting 11.6% year-on-year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 206 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014 (Q4).  

The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained between 0.5-1%.

The market breadth in BSE remains firm with 1,159 shares advancing and 967 shares declining.