Nifty holds 8,050 amid lacklustre trades; IT shares weigh

Business standard has posted by Nifty holds 8,050 amid lacklustre trades; IT shares weigh FII stance, progress of monsoon, crude oil and rupee movement are likely to dictate the trend on the bourses Markets continue to trade in a narrow range with Nifty holding on to the 8,050 mark. Weakness in technology shares amid an appreciating rupee is offsetting gains in the FMCG stocks.

At 10:10 am, the S&P BSE Sensex lost 53 points to quote at 26,345 and the Nifty50 shed 16 points to trade at 8,073.

The rupee shook off some of its earlier weakness and recovered 12 paise to 67.84 against the dollar today on increased selling of the US currency by banks and exporters.

Top 5 losers in the 30-share Sensex pack include TCS, Infosys, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki and Wipro down between 1%-2.5%. On the flip side, Dr Reddy’s Lab, HUL, SBI, NTPC and Axis Bank are up between 0.7%-2%.

Among other shares, Tata Sponge is up nearly 4% after the company said it has received a letter-of-intent from Coal India's subsidiary Eastern Coalfields stating that the company has emerged as a successful bidder for award of 24,000 tonnes per annum of coal at a notified price.

Hester Biosciences has rallied 9% to Rs 777 on the BSE after the pharmaceutical company said that it is planning to raise funds by issuing shares via qualified institutional placement (QIP).

Aban Offshore is trading higher by 4% after the company announced that its arm has received order from Oil Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for the deployment of the Drillship Aban Abraham for a firm period of 2 years.

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(updated at 9:15 am

Markets have opened the session on a cautious note amid global turmoil after Britain decided to exit the European Union in a historic referendum on June 24.

At 9:15 am, the S&P BSE Sensex lost 45 points to quote at 26,352 and the Nifty50 shed 15 points to trade at 8,073.

“Nifty50 has to hold above 7,960-7,980 zones to witness a range bound move while on upside holding above 8,150 may open a scope for testing next hurdle of 8,242 zones. But now till it doesn’t reclaim 8,150 zone, street may remain shaky with the fear of retesting recent lows of 7,980-7,960 then 7,927 levels,” according to Anad Rathi morning note.

FII stance, progress of monsoon, crude oil and rupee movement are likely to dictate the trend on the bourses.

The market may remain volatile as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month June 2016 series to July 2016 series. The near month June 2016 derivatives contracts expire on Thursday, 30 June 2016.

Concerns further mounted as commentators said Britain's exit, commonly referred to as Brexit, and would mean that the EU could slip into recession. Britain has been a member of the trading bloc since 1973. Voting in the referendum was concluded in a single day yesterday

On Friday, the S&P BSE Sensex lost 2.2% or 605 points to end at 26,398, while the Nifty50 index plunged 2.2% or 182 points to close at 8,089. 

GLOBAL MARKET

Asian equities have slipped and the British pound tumbled more than 2% as indices struggled to digest the uncertainty triggered by Britain's decision to exit the European Union. Japan’s Nikkei and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.7%-2%. On the flip side, Singapore’s Straits Times, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped between 0.3%-1%.

Meanwhile, following the Britain exit from the European Union, US market tumbled over 3% with the Dow losing over 600 points on Friday.

STOCKS

Bharti Airtel and Malaysian firm Axiata have deferred the agreement for merger of their Bangladesh operations till September 26, 2016. Bharti Airtel is trading flat with positive bias. 

Brexit impacted stocks include Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Bharat Forge, Kitex Garments, KPR Mill, Wockhardt and Torrent Pharma. 

Tata Motors which dropped over 8% on Friday has rebounded in today’s trade and is trading 0.2% higher. The company earns 25% of its total revenue from its UK-based subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover in Europe.

Tata Steel lost 0.5% as the Brexit development last week could result in delay in sale of its loss-making UK steel business.

Among auto component manufacturers Motherson Sumi which earns nearly 70% of its revenues from exports to the Europe could still some selling pressure. The stock is trading nearly 1% lower.

Max Ventures may see some uptick after large investors and mutual funds bought stake in the company from the open market post its listing. The stock has jumped 5%.

Aban Offshore gained 3% after the company said that its subsidiary has received a Firm Letter of Award from ONGC for the deployment of the Drillship Aban Abraham for a firm period of 2 years.

Parag Milk Foods is up 2% after the company reported revenue of Rs 414 crore for the quarter ended March 2016 compared with Rs 387.5 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Tata Sponge soared 5% after the company said that it has emerged as a successful bidder for award of 24,000 Tonnes per annum of coal from Eastern Coalfields Ltd, a subsidiary of Coal India, at a notified price.

ARSS Infrastructure surged 4% after the company announced that it has won a work order amounting to Rs. 44.04 Crores.

Wind turbine maker Suzlon Group announced the completion and commissioning of its 4.20 MW maiden wind project for Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, said a media report.  The stock climbed 1%