Nifty hovers around 7700, Sensex weak; HDFC, Sun Pharma drag

Moneycontrol Bureau10:58 am Market Update: The market extended losses with the Sensex falling 113.04 points to 25224.52 and the Nifty declining 27.20 points to 7689.30.The market breadth remained weak as about 1206 shares declined against advancing 872 shares on BSE.10:40 am FII View: The current rebound in the Indian market is due to the global market rally and a relief on the macro side, said Neelkanth Mishra, Head of Equity Strategy India at Credit Suisse in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

The Indian economy is doing much better than what consensus thinks, Mishra said. Poor-performing agriculture and banking sectors could have dragged the markets down, but that didn't happen, he added.

He expects 2016 to be a volatile year.

Focus needs to be on companies catering to domestic needs, he said, adding that mortgage poroviders will be on Credit Suisse’s radar.10:20 am Jefferies on IT cos: Global IT services major Accenture’s strong earnings for the February quarter was driven by growth across all verticals and key geographies, notes broking firm Jefferies.“This should allay recent concerns on growth in Banking and Financial services and Europe; each contributes over 30 percent of revenues for the top 4 Indian IT players,” says the Jefferies note.Jefferies top three picks in the Indian IT space are TCS, Infosys and Tech Mahindra."While longer term concerns on the slowing growth, pricing pressures and cannibalization from automation for the Indian vendors remain, Accenture’s results should allay more recent concerns on BFSI and Europe, overall deal flow and broad outlook for FY17," says the Jefferies note."However, this should not discount the fact that Accenture’s success is a result of its strong execution in digital and consulting, also helped by the fact that they are better positioned for it from a delivery, sales and client profile perspective (revenue productivity at 1.7-1.8 times of Indian vendors)," the note says.Also read - Don't go short yet, but time to become cautious: Udayan Mukherjee10:00 am Market Check

Equity benchmarks were marginally under pressure in morning trade with the Sensex falling 61.04 points to 25276.52. The Nifty declined 18.25 points to 7698.25, dragged by banking & financials, pharma, FMCG and capital goods stocks.

The broader markets too were down 0.4 percent on weak market breadth. About 934 shares declined against 800 advancing shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Shares of HDFC, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel topped selling list on Sensex, down 1-3 percent while TCS and Adani Ports gained over a percent.