Sensex holds 25,000; Hindalco up 4%

Markets trim losses during the afternoon trades after touching the day's low post the release of WPI numbers. Some fresh buying is evident in capital goods, select financials and oil & gas sectors. However, consumer durables, IT, metal and healthcare shares are losing sheen on BSE. 

 

At 3:25 PM, the 30-share Sensex is down 18 points at 25,005 levels and the 50-share Nifty is down 5 points at 7,454 levels. 

 

Hindalco, Tata Power, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, Axis Bank and ONGC are among the gainers, whereas Sesa Sterlite, Infosys, Wipro, Bharti Airtel and HUL are contributing to the decline. 

 

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(updated at 3.30 PM)

Markets continue to trade in negative territory amid profit taking in IT major Infosys post its first quarter earnings last week. Also, investor sentiments were dampened after foreign institutional investors sold Indian shares worth 7.23 billion rupees ($120.60 million) on Friday.

The wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation fell to a four-month low of 5.43% in June against 6.01% in the previous month as the rate of food price rise declined and ironically onions turned cheaper.

However, this may not dissuade RBI from maintaining a status quo on its policy rates next month since sub-normal monsoon threatened to result in a drought in parts of the country and geo-political crisis in west Asia.

At 1425 hrs, the Sensex was down 51 points at 24,972 and the Nifty gave off 10 points to trade at 7,449.

In the broader markets, the smallcap index was down 0.6% and the midcap index was marginally in red, down 0.1%.

Sectors & Stocks

BSE Consumer Durables index was the top sectoral loser down 1.8% followed by IT, FMCG, Healthcare and Realty indices, down 0.2-1%.

Jewellery shares were among the top losers in the consumer durables space with Titan, PC Jeweller and Rajesh Exports down 2-4% each.

Infosys was the top Sensex loser down 3% after rising 2.7% last week; post its first quarter earnings. In rupee terms, gross sales fell by 1.5% as compared to last quarter which is a sign of worry for the company as in this quarters other peers would be showing better result as compared to last quarter, says analyst at WealthRays Securities.

Wipro down 2.5% was the other major loser from the IT space.

FMCG shares which had risen last week also witnessed profit taking today. ITC was down 0.2% after rising 3.8% last week while Hindustan Unilever was down 2% after gaining over 2.6% last week.

Other Sensex losers include, Sesa Sterlite, Coal India, NTPC and Bharti AIrtel among others.

Metal shares were among the top gainers with Hindalco up 4.5% and Tata Steel rising over 3%.

TCS, Tata Power, Axis Bank, ONGC and BHEL, all up 1-3% were the notable gainers.

Among other shares, Advani Hotels and Resorts (India) has hit the upper circuit of 20% at Rs 51.60 on the BSE on reports that ITC Hotels could be close to buying its property in Goa.

Rupee

The rupee is steady at 60.05 compared to Friday's close, as the stock market trades flat on back of foreign investor sales, even as Asian currencies trade mixed against the dollar. The rupee is seen moving in a 59.70 to 60.50 range during the session.

Global Markets

Asian shares rose on Monday as investors put aside concerns about euro zone banks and looked forward to corporate earnings and a raft of global economic events, including testimony from the head of the Federal Reserve.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4%, with Seoul putting on 0.3%. Japan's Nikkei bounced 0.88% after several sessions of losses.

The European markets started on a strong note with all the major markets - CAC, DAX and FTSE - up 0.7-0.8%.