Nifty tad above 17,900; Sensex adds 143 pts

The benchmark indices traded with minor losses in the afternoon trade. The Nifty traded near the 17,900 mark after hitting a day`s high at 17,954.65 in the morning trade. Realty, metal and FMCG stocks advanced while IT, oil & gas and healthcare shares declined. Trading was volatile due to the expiry of weekly index options on the NSE today.

At 13:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 142.97 points or 0.24% to 60,117.16. The Nifty 50 index lost 38.80 points or 0.22% to 17,905.45.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.19% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.20%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,803 shares rose and 1,539 shares fell. A total of 128 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers:

Tata Consumer Products (up 2.14%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 2.05%), SBI Life Insurance Company (up 1.50%), Bharti Airtel (up 1.37%) and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones (up 0.87%) were major Nifty gainers.

Dr Reddy`s Laboratories (down 2.62%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 1.83%), Infosys (down 1.70%), Wipro (down 1.63%) and UPL (down 1.60%) were majority Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) shed 0.99%. ONGC has signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) with global petroleum giant ExxonMobil for Deepwater exploration in East and West coasts of India. The collaboration areas focus on the Krishna Godavari and Cauvery Basins in the eastern offshore and the Kutch-Mumbai region in the western offshore.

GAIL (India) rose 0.59%. The board of directors of the company approved fundraising of $3.125 billion from external commercial borrowing and up to Rs 25,000 crore via NCD or non-convertible debentures.

Natco Pharma gained 1.24%. The company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted tentative approval to its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Trabectedin for Injection (generic for Yondelis) for the 1mg/vial presentation.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe were trading mixed while Asian stocks slumped on Thursday, struggling to build on gains as investors are cautious over the inflationary outlook.

US stocks closed lower on Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve`s meeting in July suggested policymakers may be less aggressive than previously thought when they raise interest rates in September.

The minutes from the Federal Reserve`s July meeting shows that central bankers plan to continue rate hikes in order to bring down inflation.

�With inflation remaining well above the Committee`s objective, participants judged that moving to a restrictive stance of policy was required to meet the Committee`s legislative mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability,� the minutes said.

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