Markets remain rangebound in afternoon trade; Nifty trades above 9,500

Bharti Airtel, L&T and Tata Motors lost the most on BSE Sensex

Benchmarks indices continued trading range-bound in the afternoon trade, with the Nifty hovering around 9500 level following correction in Asian peers.

 

Asian shares were hit by dismal performances of European and US markets. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7%, after hitting a two-year high on Thursday. It is up 5.3% for the quarter and has risen 18.3% this year.

 

The negative sentiment infected Chinese shares despite surveys showing activity in the country's manufacturing and services sector accelerated in June from the previous month. Japan's Nikkei tumbled 1.2%, shrinking its monthly gain to 1.7%. It is up 4.5% this year.

 

At 2:38 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 30,888, up 30 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,508, up 5 points.

 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap bucked the trend to gain 0.2% each.

 

Sun Pharma was the biggest gainer among Sensex stocks, up nearly 4%. It was followed by ITC, Dr Reddy’s, Tata Steel and Cipla while Bharti Airtel, L&T and Tata Motors lost the most on the index.

 

Central Depository Services (CDSL) had a stellar debut and was trading 76% higher on NSE. The share price opened at Rs 250 against the issue price of Rs 149.

 

Shares of PVV Infra is locked at 5% upper circuit post it has received an order from Tata Trusts for pre-cast demo of individual household latrine (IHHL) installation at Kesarapalli village, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh.

 

Cadila Healthcare share price gained 1% intraday after receiving approval from the US health regulator to market Phentermine hydrochloride orally disintegrating tablets.

 

Share price of Unichem Laboratories surged 6.5% intraday as its Goa facility has received Establishment Inspection Report from USFDA.

 

Among losers, Nifty Realty index (down 0.8%) was the top loser, led by losses in Indiabulls Real Estate, HDIL, Sobha and DLF, which lost 2% each.

 

The government on Thursday hiked the GST rate for the construction sector to 18% from 12%, but removed land value from computation of tax liability.  

InterGlobe Aviation, which operates IndiGo airline, was down nearly 5% on BSE in intra-day trade, extending its Thursday’s fall, after the low-cost carrier has expressed unsolicited interest in buying a stake in national carrier Air India.