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After gaining in four out of six sessions, markets have today slipped into a consolidation mode amid profit booking with IT majors Infosys and TCS outperforming the benchmarks after Cognizant reported its best-ever sequential revenue growth and revised its revenue forecast upwards for the second quarter in a row, on Wednesday.
Investors are awaiting the release of monthly jobs data due tomorrow for a sign of the health of the American economy which is likely to provide cues for an impending rate hike by the Fed.
At 10:35 am, the Sensex was at 28,242, higher by 19 points and the Nifty was at 8,573, up 6 points. In the broader markets, the midcap and smallcap indices are trading higher by 0.4% each. The market breadth is positive. There are 1,314 advancing stocks as against 946 declining stocks on the BSE.
Meanwhile, healthcare stocks are trading firm in today’s trade with Dr Reddy’s Lab leading rally after the company decided to expand in Europe and grow its proprietary products business over the next two years.
However, losses in financials coupled with weakness in FMCG major ITC have capped the gains on the upside.
RUPEE
The rupee has edged up 4 paise to 63.71 against the US dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on increased selling of the American currency by exporters amid higher foreign funds inflow.
STOCK TRENDS
On the sectoral front, BSE FMCG, Metal and Bankex are losing sheen and are down up to 1%. However, BSE IT, Consumer Durables, Healthcare indices are trading higher up to 2%.
Healthcare shares are on a roll in the morning trades with Dr Reddy’s Lab leading rally after the company decided to expand in Europe and grow its proprietary products business over the next two years. Dr Reddy’s lab, Lupin, Sun Pharma and Cipla are trading higher between 1-3%.
Meanwhile, the sentiments are boosted after , India deferred the talks with the European Union on the proposed free trade agreement expressing disappointment and concern over the EU banning sale of around 700 pharma products clinically tested by GVK Biosciences.
The IT stocks are gaining limelight after Cognizant reported its best-ever sequential revenue growth and revised its revenue forecast upwards for the second quarter in a row, on Wednesday. The strong dollar and rising prospects of a rate hike by the US Fed have further buoyed the IT segment for the second consecutive session. Infosys and TCS are trading higher by 1% and 0.7%.
Tata Steel on Wednesday said talks with Switzerland-based Klesch Group for sale of its long products Europe business have been discontinued. The stock is down 0.5%.
However, banks are losing sheen after RBI warned banks against under-declaring NPAs and on ever-greening of accounts to prevent them from slipping into default. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank are down 0.6% each.
FMCG major ITC is the biggest loser and is down 1.7% on profit booking while its peer HUL is trading with marginal losses.
Fund firm Aviva Investors said on Wednesday it opposed a USD 2.3 billion plan by Vedanta to buy out minority shareholders in Cairn India as the deal failed to deliver sufficient value. Vedanta is trading flat with marginal losses.
Coal India’s coal production for the month of July failed to achieve its July production target. It grew 5.5% annually to 34.83 million tones. The stock is down 0.5%.
