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Markets have closed lower on the day of May F&O expiry weighed down by financials and pharma shares.
Provisionally, the Sensex ended at 27,506.71, lower by 57.95 points and the Nifty closed at 8,319.00, down 15.60 points.
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Updated at 14:30
The markets are struggling this afternoon, mirroring the weakness in most of their Asian peers. Muted corporate earnings, growing prospects that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates and the F&O rollover pressures are further accentuating the nervousness on the Street.
At 2.30 pm, the Sensex was trading at 27,443, lower by 122 points or 0.4% and Nifty was at 8,294, down 36 points.
The broader markets are also trading in the red, with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices shedding 0.5% and 0.2% at 10,557 and 11,137 respectively .
Meanwhile, Skymet said that conditions are favorable for the onset of Southwest Monsoon in India. The private weather forecaster expects monsoons to hit Kerala around 30 May.
In economy-related news, the government is scheduled to announce the data on India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth for Q4 March 2015 on Friday.
RUPEE
The rupee has recovered by 15 paise to 63.86 against the US dollar Thursday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters.
GLOBAL MARKETS
China stocks dived by 7% at 4620 on Thursday, posting their biggest fall in four months, after several major brokerages tightened requirements on margin financing, triggering fears of further measures by regulators to reduce leverage in the red-hot market. Media reports also suggested that China's sovereign wealth fund has reduced its stake in China's banks. Hang Seng has slumped by 2%, while SET, Jakarta and Straits Times indices are also trading in the red, albeit marginally.
The European indices, including the FTSE, CAC and DAX have also edged lower in early trades.
BUZZING SECTORS AND STOCKS
All the sectoral indices are in the red, with the exception of the oil sector. The pharma, financials and metal stocks are the major laggards this afternoon.
In the pharma space, Cipla has tanked 3% at Rs 640, Dr Reddy's and Sun Pharma have shed between 1% and 2% each.
In the financials space, HDFC and HDFC Bank have lost 1-2% each. And State Bank of India has declined about 1 on turning ex-dividend.
And in the metal space, Hindalco and Tata Steel are down 1-2% each.
On the other hand, Tata Motors has rebounded from yesterday’s lows and is the leading gainer on the BSE. The stock has added 2% after slumping around 5% post its Q4 numbers in the previous session. Vedanta, BHEL and Infosys are the other major gainers on the BSE.
ONGC, Coal India and Hindalco are trading in the red zone ahead of their quarterly results due today. The shares of these companies have declined 0.5-1.5 % each.
The market breadth is weak. Out of 2,650 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1,140 advancing stocks as against 1,399 declines.
