Sensex down over 100 points; RIL down 1%

ONGC, L&T and RIL are down 1-2% at this hour.

Market hovered near their day's lows dragged down by capital goods, oil & gas and banking stocks as investors booked profits at higher levels.   

At 1230 hrs, the 30-stock BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) Sensex was down 123 points at 22,428 levels and the 50-unit Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was down 36 points at 6,717 levels.

The Sensex touched a low of 22419.44 while Nifty sunk to 6,711.70 at its lowest point during the day.

Sesa Sterlite, Cipla and Dr Reddys Labs, up over 1%, were the top Sensex gainers at this hour followed by Sun Pharma and Maruti Suzuki.

Reliance Industries which hit its 52-week high levels yesterday is the top loser today. ONGC, L&T and RIL are down 1-2% at this hour.

Broader markets were subdued too with mid-cap and small-cap indices edging 0.2-0.3% lower.

On the sectoral front Capital Goods and oil & gas indices were down over 1% followed by Bankex and Power which were other notable losers at this hour.

Meanwhile realty, metal, Consumer Durables and healthcare indices gained 0.5-0.9%.

Metal names like Hindalco, Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel up 2-3.5% were the top gainers among Sensex-30.

Stocks of pharmaceutical companies continued to gain in trade today with counters like Wockhardt, Strides Arcolab, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Ranbaxy Laboratories moving up between 1 – 13%.

Pharma names continued their gains with Dr Reddys Lab, Sun Pharma and Cipla adding 1-11%.

Index heavyweights L&T and SBI were down 1-2%.

Axis Bank, ONGC, Coal India, ICICI Bank and Gail India down 0.6-0.9% were the other major losers.

In individual names, IDFC rose 2.3% to Rs 131after the Reserve Bank of India granted in-principle bank licence to the company.

Shares of fifteen other banking licence applicants fell by 1-8% with L&T Finance Holdings, SREI Infrastructure Finance, IFCI, Muthoot Finance, IIFL Holdings ,  LIC Housing Finance  and Reliance Capital slipping 3-8%.

The market breadth was positive on BSE. 1074 stocks advanced while 1333 stocks declined.

Global Markets

Asian shares hovered near four-month highs on Thursday as upbeat U.S. data underpinned risk appetite, while news China is taking steps to stimulate its economy spurred Tokyo's Nikkei to a three-weak peak.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.1% to brush a new four-month high. The index has rebounded about 6% from a five-week low hit on March 20, supported by receding tensions in Ukraine and hopes China will take steps to stimulate its sagging economy.

Overnight, The S&P 500 closed at another record high on Wednesday as signs of steady private-sector hiring suggested that the economy was slowly building momentum after a winter-related pullback.

That also put more focus on Friday's government jobs data, which is among the most widely watched economic indicators.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.24%, to end at 16,573. The S&P 500 gained 0.29%, to finish at 1,891, a record closing high. The S&P 500 also hit an intraday record high of 1,893. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.20%, to close at 4,276.