Markets have ended volatile session weak led by Bharti Airtel, capital goods space and weak European markets.
The Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex provisionally closed at 17,622 down 85 points or 0.5%. The National Stock Exchange’s 50-share S&P CNX Nifty provisionally closed at 5,334 down 28 points or 0.5%.
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Updated 1430 hrs
Markets are trading extremely volatile with the Sensex and the Nifty oscillating between negative and positive zone. At 14:30 hrs, the Sensex was down 26 points at 17,683 and the 50-share Nifty fell 7 points at 5,355.
On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed as renewed fears of a messy debt default gave pause to mounting hopes the global economy is improving. European markets have opened mixed.
Back home, index heavyweight Reliance Industries has surged 1% to Rs 843 after the foreign brokerage house Goldman Sachs upgraded the company to buy from neutral, citing a potential lift in margins on increased refining and recovering oil demand.
From the banking space, private banking majors HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have gained by almost 1% each. However, SBI has slipped marginally in red.
IT stocks have gained on recent news of positive economic data in the US. TCS is up 1% after the company inked a multi-year, multi-million euro contract with European car rental company Europcar for deployment of IT services in France. Wipro is also up nearly 1%.
Among losers, BSE Capital Goods, Realty and Power indices have declined by almost 1% each.
Bharti Airtel is the top Sensex loser, down 3% ahead of its third quarter numbers tomorrow. Telecom stocks have also fallen after telecom regulator indicated it may have to intervene if telecom operators decide to increase tariffs.
From the Capital Goods space, L&T and BHEL have dropped between 1-3%.
Among Auto shares, M&M and Maruti Suzuki have reduced by almost 1% each. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd , a utility vehicles maker, reported a bigger-than-expected 9.9% fall in quarterly profit, as rising commodity costs put pressure on margins.
HUL has declined nearly 2% on earnings quality concerns post its December quarter results.
The broader markets are trading flat with the Mid-cap index down 0.35% and the Small-cap index up 0.1%.
Aviation stocks like Spice Jet, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines have zoomed on reports on reports the government panel recommended up to 49% foreign direct investment by foreign airlines, direct import of jet fuel by airlines.
The overall market breadth in BSE turns weak with 1,183 shares advancing and 1,581 shares declining.
