Nifty Turns Flat, IT Stocks Under Pressure

Sensex and Nifty turned flat in afternoon trade on profit-taking at higher levels. The Sensex gained as much as 209 points in early trade before paring most of the gains. The Nifty was up 13 points at 8074.

Here are top 10 developments:

1) Some selling pressure emerged in IT stocks, with Tech Mahindra falling 1.8 per cent. The stock had gained as much as 2 per cent in early trade after the IT major reported in-line Q2 earnings. Infosys, Wipro and TCS also edged lower.

2) Select banking stocks were also under pressure with ICICI Bank declining nearly 2 per cent.

3) Tata Motors surged 6 per cent on better-than-expected JLR sales in the US. It was the biggest gainer among Nifty stocks.

4) Gains in other auto stocks also helped support the markets. Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp and M&M were up over 1.5 per cent.

5) Elsewhere, FMCG major Marico announced a 1:1 bonus issue driving its shares 3 per cent higher. Nestle India shares also gained nearly 3.8 per cent after the food and beverage company said three labs, mandated by the Bombay High Court, have cleared all the samples of newly manufactured Maggi Noodles.

6) Market analysts say that domestic equities may face profit-taking at higher levels amid caution over the outcome of Bihar election and disappointment over Q2 corporate earnings.

7) Nifty may slip to 7,850 if the outcome of Bihar assembly elections does not go in favour of the BJP, said market analyst Rajat Bose.

8) Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have sold in four out of the previous seven sessions, depriving markets of momentum, after they had been heavy net buyers in October.

9) On Tuesday, FIIs sold Indian equities worth Rs 450 crore (net) in the cash market. But Rs 350-crore buying from domestic institutional investors helped support the markets.

10) Asian shares rose on Wednesday, taking cues from overnight Wall Street gains. Japan's Nikkei gained over 1 per cent while China's Shanghai Composite surged over 4 per cent. The sentiment in Asian markets was also boosted by a jump in China's services PMI index. European markets were trading higher.