Markets Live: Sensex off day's low; Europe opens in green

The BSE Sensex continued to trade weak in afternoon trade. Investor dissapointment was clearly visible as the European Central Bank, after inaction from the Federal Reserve, disappointed markets looking for an imminent move to deal with the euro zone debt crisis, spurring risk aversion.

European stocks inched higher in early trade on Friday, halting the previous session's sharp pull-back, as investors await US jobs data that could potentially fuel expectations of further stimulus from the Federal Reserve.

Except for the BSE Healthcare, all other sectoral indices were trading in red. The BSE metals, capital goods, realty, auto and banking indices were down 1-2%.

Stocks like ITC, Reliance, ICICI Bank, Coal India and L&T were among the negative contributors.

Market analyst Manoj Singla of Religare Capital Markets expects markets to trade with a negative bias for a few months. "The chance of a test of 4800 on the Nifty is not ruled out," Singla said.

The Sensex was down 117.51 points or 0.68% at 17106.85, and the Nifty was down 39 points or 0.75% at 5188.75.

About 994 shares have advanced, 1480 shares declined, and 965 shares are unchanged.

Top losers on the Sensex were Tata Steel at Rs 394.90 down 2.71%, Sterlite Ind at Rs 102 down 2.67%, Coal India at Rs 338.30 down 2.49%, Hindalco at Rs 116.40 down 2.31% and Jindal Steel at Rs 394.95 down 2.28%.

However, top gainers on the Sensex were Dr Reddys Labs at Rs 1,670.50 up 1.53%, NTPC at Rs 165.75 up 1.50%, Wipro at Rs 343.45 up 1%, ONGC at Rs 279.05 up 0.83% and Cipla at Rs 352.10 up 0.76%.

Mahindra satyam and Tech mahindra up 6% post strong earnings by Mahindra satyam  . Margin improved to 21.7% vs 17.5% QoQ . CS has revised their earnings numbers for Satyam (standalone) by 515% over FY1315 due to the higher-than-expected margins and upped TP by 5% from 88 to 92 rs.

Glenmark Pharma up 4.49% post earnings , numbers in line with expectations , forex losses impacted profitability. Highlight of Q1 was 24% YoY sales growth in India and 6% QoQ sales growth in the US in constant currency. CS maintains OPF on Glenmark due to (1) high earnings CAGR of 22% over next two years and (2) R&D upside available as option value which should improve RoCE and reduce leverage and drive re-rating

Jet Airways up 2% ahead of numbers today . Losses expected to narrow to 198cr vs adj net loss of 241cr YoY . Yields to improve, load factors expected to remain strong at ~80% due to reduction in capacity by Kingfisher airliness. Reduction in ATF prices to help lower fuel costs , thus aiding profitability

Deccan Chronicle down another 3% today. Chairman T Venkatraman reddy released a statement in Deccan chronicle yesterday accepting that company is indeed facing a liquidity crunch says liquidity crisis has arisen due to significant reduction in ad spend by domestic and multinational companies in India.

(With inputs from Reuters)