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Markets remained subdued in afternoon session this Thursday on last day of May derivative contracts expiry.
Global risk appetite was also frail amid looming fear over a pull-back of stimulus by the US Federal Reserve earlier than expected.
At 1PM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex rose 15 points at 20,161 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share was flat at 6,103.
Asian shares traded lower with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng falling 0.4% to 22,457, China’s Shanghai Composite declined 0.2% to 2,319, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 1.2% to 3,326 while Japan’s Nikkei slumped 5.4% to 13,589 today.
Meanwhile, European markets were mixed in opening deals. France’s CAC rose 0.01% to 3,975, UK’s FTSE declined 0.09% to 6,620 while Germany’s DAX was down 0.2% to 8,316.
Back home, the key sectoral indices such as auto, FMCG, IT gained while realty, bankex, oil and gas, capital goods, metal sectors dropped on the BSE.
The gainers on the Sensex included Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra gained 3% and 2.4% respectively, HDFC and HDFC Bank were up 2% and 1% while ITC added 1.7% on the BSE.
The laggards were Cipla falling over 3%,ICICI Bank declined 2.6%, Reliance Industries dropped 1.4%, Bharti Airtel shed 1.8% on the BSE.
The key notable movers were, BEML which gained nearly 8% at Rs 181 after the company reported robust earnings in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013 against a huge loss in the same quarter last year.
Shares of Cipla were down 2% at Rs 393 after the company late Wednesday reported 8.3% decline in its net profit at Rs 267.56 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013 because of higher tax expenses.
The broader markets fell with mid-caps and small-caps dropping nearly 0.2% on the BSE.
The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,222 stocks traded, 1,237 stocks declined compared to 851 advances on the BSE.
