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Benchmark shares indices seem to be consolidating at current levels as investors turned cautious and booked profits ahead of the general elections results due on Friday.
At 11:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 43 points at 23,828 and the 50-share Nifty was down 4 points at 7,105.
Though the exit polls announced on May 12 point to the formation of a stable government at the centre led by National Democratic Alliance (NDA) headed by Narendra Modi, any disappointment will see the markets react sharply on the downside on May 16 and over the next few months as well, analysts say.
The money and forex markets are closed today on account of Buddha Jayanti.
Asian markets were trading firm with the exception of Japanese shares which witnessed profit taking after recent gains. Nikkei was down 0.3% while Shanghai Composite recovered from its early lows and was up 0.2%. Hang Seng and Straits Times were up over 1% each.
BSE Realty index was the top gainer among the sectoral indices up 2.4% followed by Metal, Consumer Durbales and FMCG indices. Capital goods, Oil and Gas were among the top losers.
Reliance Industries witnessed profit taking after the stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,067 on the BSE. The stock was down nearly 1% at Rs 1,051.
Capital goods shares which had seen sharp gains recently also witnessed profit taking. L&T and BHEL were down 1.5-2.5% each.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories extended losses and was down 2.4% after reporting a lower than 15.6% year on year (yoy) drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 482 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 (Q4FY14), mainly due to higher operating expenses. The pharmaceutical company had profit of Rs 571 crore in the same quarter last year.
Mahindra & Mahindra was down 2.5% on the back of multiple block deals on the NSE and BSE. Around 7 million shares representing 1.1% of total equity capital of the company have changed hands on the NSE at a price between Rs 1,075 and Rs 1,082. On the BSE, around 189,000 shares changed hands at Rs 1,093 per share, the stock exchange data shows.
Other Sensex losers include, ONGC, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors among others.
Gains on the Sensex were led by index heavyweight ITC which was up nearly 1% at Rs 364.
Tata Steel was up 3.1% at Rs 440 ahead of its fourth quarter numbers due later today.
Bharti Airtel up 1.3%. The country’s largest telecom operator by subscribers said it had raised about $2 billion (Rs 11,928 crore) in dual-currency international bonds. In these, interest and principal are paid in different currencies. The proceeds will be used to refinance and repay old foreign-currency debt.
Other Sensex gainers include, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, SBI, HDFC Bank and TCS among others.
Shares of infrastructure and real estate companies are in demand with many of them trading at their 52-week high on back of heavy volumes amid expectations that a new government at the centre would give the much-needed thrust to economy recovery.
Adani Enterprises, Reliance Industrial Infrastructure, Srei Infrastructure, Indiabulls Real Estate, BEML, IVRCL, Hindustan Construction Company, Prestige Estates, HDIL and Unitech have rallied more than 4% each on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.7% and Smnall-cap index was up 1.1%.
Market breadth was strong with 1,324 gainers and 1,068 losers on the BSE.
