Sensex trims early losses; BHEL up 3%

Benchmark share indices trimmed losses but continued to trade weak in late morning trades with index heavyweight Reliance Industries leading the decline along with select financials and IT shares.

Meanwhile, Germany’s rejection of Greece’s request for an extension to its loan agreement has dampened the sentiments of the market participants.

By 11:45AM, the Sensex was down 93 points at 29,369 and the Nifty dipped 24 points at 8,872.

Further, foreign portfolio investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 1543 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

BSE Oil and Gas index was the top loser down 1.5% followed by IT, Bankex and Consumer Durables. Realty, Metal, Auto and Healthcare indices were among the top gainers.

Reliance Industries was the top Sensex loser down 2.7% amid reports that one of its employees was arrested by the Delhi Police for illegally sourcing government documents. Further, reports suggest that the company has also issues a separate clarification stating that it has launched an internal probe after coming to know that one of its employee has been detained by law enforcement authorities.

In the financial segment, private banking majors ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were among the top losers down 0.4-1.8% each while mortage lender HDFC was down 1.4% on profit booking after recent gains.

IT majors TCS and Infosys also witnessed profit taking and were down nearly 1% each.

FMCG major ITC and SBI were up 1% each contributing the most to the Sensex gains.

State-owned engineering major BHEL was up 3% on renewed buying interest at lower levels. The stock has witnessed profit taking after it hit a 52-week high of nearly Rs 299.50 early this month.

Hindalco extended gains and was up 1.5% after after it won the Gare Palma coal mine in Chhattisgarh by outbidding companies like BALCO, Sesa Sterlite, Ambuja Cements, which were also vying for the same block.

Jindal Steel & Power was also up 3% after the company has won Gare Palma IV/2 and IV/3 blocks in fierce bidding at the ongoing coal block e-auctions.

Among other shares, shares of Housing Development & Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) has rallied 7% to Rs 123, its highest level since January 2013 on BSE. In past one month, the stock of Mumbai-based real estate developer has outperformed the market by surging 58%, on back of overseas investor’s interest and strong earnings growth during the recently concluded quarter.

ITD Cementation India has surged 16% to Rs 591 on BSE after the company wins Rs 2,168 crore order for dredging and reclamation works for container terminal 4 at Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.5% and Small-cap indices up 0.6%.

Market breadth was strong with 1,345 gainers and 1,022 losers on the BSE.