MUMBAI: The broader markets continue to outperform the benchmark indices as trade moves into the noon session on the Dalal Street. The markets are trading flat and the benchmark indices are in the red on the back of weak Asian stocks. The BSE Sensex declined 52 points to 17,939 and the NSE Nifty fell 15 points to 5,393.
The BSE small cap index rose 0.70 per cent and the CNX midcap index gained 0.59 per cent.
Among the midcaps, Central Bank rose 8.06 per cent. The bank’s net profit rose 26 per cent. Omaxe gained 6.06 per cent after reporting strong numbers. Oriental Bank extended gains. The bank had reported earnings on Thursday. Among the small caps, INOX Leisure rose 15.7 per cent after reports of Reliance mediaworks offering to acquire a stake in the company. Reliance denied the report in a communication to the BSE.
Among the sectoral indices, Consumer Durables continued to see buying interest, Banking and metal stocks rose too. The declines were led by realty and IT stocks. TCS, Wipro and Infosys fell.
On the Sensex, 10 stocks advanced while 20 declined. Hero Honda was the biggest loser, down 2.87 per cent. The company reported a 1.6 per cent decline in net profit (YOY). Tata Motors, Bharti and DLF declined more than 1.5 per cent. M&M, Tata Steel and SBI gained more than a per cent on the Sensex.
Infosys and ICICI Bank were the big drags, pulling the Sensex down by 31 points. SBI pushed the index up by 10 points.
ONGC declined 1.13 per cent and Federal Bank fell 2.60 per cent on results.
ABB, Reliance Power, BPCL, HPCL and Reliance Infra are some companies to announce earnings today.
Global markets look weak ahead of the GDP number for the April-June quarter in the US. Investors are concerned about recovery in the world’s largest economy and the signals so far have been far from reassuring despite strong earnings from many Wall Street companies. On Thursday, the Labour department said that the weekly claims for unemployment benefits fell marginally but the small drop failed to enthuse investors. The Dow fell 31 points to end at 10,467.
Asian markets fell after Wall Street declined. The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 1.64 per cent to 9,537 at 12.20 pm. Japan’s industrial production fell in June and consumer prices have declined for the 16th month. The Kospi in South Korea was down 0.65 per cent and the Hang Seng dropped 0.24 per cent.
The Chinese markets were lower too.
