Sensex, Nifty pare gains; Bajaj Auto, ITC down nearly 4%

Bajaj Auto, ITC, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and Tata Power are top losers

Benchmark indices have come under pressure and are trading on a divergent note as the losses in select FMCG and auto stocks have wiped off the gains in capital goods and select bank shares.
 
At 1:20PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 83 points at 29,278 and the 50-share Nifty was flat at 8,900.
 
In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap index and Smallcap indices, up 0.6% and 0.4% each have performed better than the front-liners. Market breadth in BSE is negative with 1,321 declines against 1,225 advances.    
 

The HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by Markit fell for the second consecutive month, to 51.2 in February from 52.9 in January implying that manufacturing activity expanded at its slowest pace in five months in February on slowdown in new orders dragging overall output.

 
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 614.03 crore on Saturday, as per provisional data.
 
Buzzing Stocks
 
6 out of the 12 sectoral indices of BSE are trading higher. BSE Capital Goods index, up 2.8% is the top gainer followed by BSE Bankex, up 1.1%.  BSE FMCG index down 2% is the top loser followed by BSE Realty index down 1.4%.
 
Infrastructure stocks like L&T, up 3.4% and BHEL, up 2.2% are trading firm on today's session boosted by the promise of increased spending on the sector by the Union Budget 2015.

 
Among bank stocks, Axis Bank is up 3.8% and HDFC Bank is up 2%. The fungibility of FII and FDI in the Budget proposal would allow private sector lenders to raise additional foreign capital.  However, ICICI Bank is down 0.6%.
 
Wipro is up around 2% while Infosys is trading flat and TCS is down 0.5%. CS has launched Business Process Innovation and Simulation & Visualization a Service (VaaS) in a strategic partnership with iRise, the global leader in enterprise visualization and simulation software.
 
Pharma stocks are trading higher. Cipla has gained 2.5%, Dr Reddys Lab is up 1% and Sun Pharma is trading higher by 0.3%.

 
Maruti Suzuki India today reported 8.7 per cent increase in total sales in February at 1,18,551 units as against 1,09,104 units in the same period of last year. The stock is up 2%.
 
ITC has extended losses and is trading lower by around 4%. In his budget proposals, Finance Minister raised excise duty on cigarettes by 25% for cigarettes of length not exceeding 65 mm, and by 15% for cigarettes of other lengths.
 
Bajaj Auto has dipped nearly 4% after reporting a 22% year on year (yoy) decline in total sales in February at 243,319 units as against 313,294 units posted in the same month last year.