Sensex down about 150 points; Nifty hovers near 8,250

Dr Reddy's Lab, HDFC, HUL, SBI and Hero Motocorp are the top losers

Benchmark indices remain under pressure with select financials, information technology and pharmaceutical stocks leading the decline as the tepid Q4 corporate earnings, erosion in rural demand due to erratic rains and concerns among foreign investors about government’s stance on retrospective taxation have kept the risk appetite on a tight leash.
 
Market sentiments are also subdued ahead of the expiry of April derivatives contracts due on Thursday and the two-day meet of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to review US monetary policy, scheduled to be held on 28-29 April 2015, during which a timeline for the first rate hike in nearly a decade is expected to be provided. 

 
At 12:48PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 140 points at 27,302 and the 50-share Nifty was down 52 points at 8,253.  
 

Intra-day Nifty fell below its 200-day moving average of 8250 for the first time since February 2014.
 
In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap index, down 1.4% and Smallcap index, down 2.2% have underperformed the front-liners. Market breadth in BSE is negative with 1,864 advances against 569 advances.    
 
Buzzing Stocks
 
None of the 12 sectoral indices of BSE are trading higher. BSE Healthcare index down 2.4% is the top loser followed by BSE Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices, down 1.6% and 1.4% each.

 
Among financials, ICICI Bank is trading higher by 0.5% ahead of its fourth quarter results due later today. Other private bank stocks like Axis Bank and HDFC Bank are trading higher by 0.4% and lower by 0.8% respectively. Housing finance major, HDFC is down over 2% and public sector lender SBI is down 2.5%.
 
Vedanta is trading higher by 2.4%. According to media reports, Anil Aggarwal-led Vedanta is eyeing a minority stake in debt-laden Electrosteel Steels. Tata Steel and Hindalco are down by 0.7% each.
 
Infosys is down over 1% on reporting sub-par quarterly results. A couple of foreign borkerages have cut the target price of Infosys. Among its peers, Wipro has gained around 1% and TCS is up 0.1%.

 
Pharma stocks are under pressure in today’s session. Dr Reddys Lab has shed nearly 4%, Sun Pharma and Cipla have lost 1.3% and 1.6% each.
 
Among other stocks, shares of Bharti Infratel has risen by 5% after the firm reported 18% year on year (yoy) growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 558 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015 (Q4), on back of strong operational performance. Revenues grew 6% at Rs 2,947 crore on yoy basis.