Sensex holds 28,000 amid choppy trade; Infosys, TCS dip 1%

IT majors weakened ahead of the September US jobs data while auto stocks were trading mixed

Markets continued to trade in negative terrain with IT majors leading the decline ahead of September US jobs data to be released later today.

At 12:30pm the S&P BSE Sensex was down 67 points at 28,039 and the Nifty50 was down 22 points at 8,688. In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were trading with marginal losses. Market breadth was weak with 1214 gainers and 1207 losers on the BSE.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 354 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

IT exporters TCS and Infosys were down 1% while Wipro was trading with marginal losses ahead of September US jobs data.

Other losers include, HDFC, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank and L&T among others.

Auto stocks were trading mixed after recent gains post their September sales numbers. Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto were down 0.4%-1% each.

However, Tata Motors gained over 1% after the company said Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) achieved a strong 28% year on year growth in global sales during the month of September.

Tata Steel was up 2.5%. The company's hot metal production surged 17% to 3.12 million tonnes in the second quarter of 2016 compared with quarter ended September 2015. Crude steel production rose 13% to 2.82 million tonnes in the quarter ended September 2016 as against quarter ended September 2015.

Telecom shares were in action post the spectrum auction in which Airtel acquired 173.8 MHz spectrum across 1800/2100/2300-MHz bands, Idea Cellular won 2100-MHz band spectrum in Mumbai circle. Idea said it has procured 349.2 MHz of spectrum, securing additional airwaves in 1800-MHz, 2100-MHz, 2300-MHz and 2500-MHz bands. Bharti Airtel was down 0.8% while Idea Cellular gained 0.3%.

Reliance Industries was trading 0.3% higher. The company's telecom arm Jio said it has acquired 269.2 MHz spectrum across all 22 circles.

Kotak Mahindra Bank was trading marginally lower. The bank reduced its base rate to 9.40%, effective 7th October, 2016. Canara Bank eased 0.7% after the state-owned bank also cut its base rate by 5 basis points to 9.60%, effective from October 11, 2016.

Lupin was up 0.7%. The pharma majors US arm Lupin Pharmaceutical Inc. entered in a strategic licensing agreement with MonoSol Rx. The company would develop multiple pediatric products utilising MonoSol Rx's proprietary PharmFilm drug delivery technology.

Among others,SAIL was up over 1%. Reports suggest that the state-owned steel major plans to invest Rs 255 crore for modernisation and capacity expansion of its flagship Bolani iron ore mines in Odisha.