Nifty in narrow range; Sterlite, SBI top sell list

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The Nifty was moving a narrow range of 5580-5600 since morning trade due to lack of major news globally as well as locally. Even European markets were flat in an early trade. The BSE benchmark declined 33 points to 18,395.46 and the NSE benchmark fell 17 points to 5,590.10.

Brent crude was trading near to USD 122 a barrel. It seems, however, that the market is not so much worried about rising crude oil prices.

Among technology stocks, Infosys gained 1.6% and TCS rose 2.3%; Wipro climbed just 0.5%. Index heavyweights Reliance and ONGC were up 0.4% & 1.8%, respectively.

In the capital goods space, BHEL surged over 2% while L&T moved up just 0.7%.

Sterlite Industries, a Vedanta Group company, topped the selling list, falling over 5% after yesterday's reports that the Sesa Goa may be merged with the company as a part of restructuring. In the metal space, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and Hindalco were down 0.7-2.5%.

Meanwhile, shares of country's major lenders SBI and ICICI Bank tumbled 4.6% and 1.3%, respectively. Investors are more worried about asset quality of SBI post reports that the bank is likely to provide loan to debt laden Kingfisher Airlines for running its operations.

Index heavyweight Bharti Airtel fell nearly 2% and realty major DLF tanked 3.5%.

Stocks in news

Corporate Affairs Ministry says cement companies cartelisation case is under review. Ambuja Cements and ACC were down 1-1.5%.

Jubilant Life Sciences rose 3.5% as its arm received 4 orders worth USD 90 million

Rohit Ferro Tech gained 2.5% as the company alloted 2 crore shares to promoters on preferential basis at Rs 60/share.

BPCL jumped 3% after Shell made offer to buy Cove Energy at USD 1.5 billion. Cove Energy has 8.5% stake in Mozambique block, wherein BPCL holds 10% stake that now valued at Rs 248/share.

At 12:13 hours IST: Sensex moderately lower; oil & gas, IT support

The market continued to trade moderately lower due to fall in SBI and ICICI Bank. Index heavyweights, however, Reliance, Infosys, ONGC and TCS were helping the market to stay near the 5600 level.

The BSE benchmark was down 39.44 points to 18,389.17 and the NSE benchmark slipped 20.20 points to 5,586.95.

Shares of SBI, India's largest lender, fell 4% on asset quality concerns after reports that the bank is lending some money to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) for operational expenses. I-T authorities had earlier frozen the airline's bank accounts. SBI had already restructured loans worth Rs 1,500 crore (given to one company - that accounts for as much as one fifth of fresh slippages in last quarter) in the third quarter of FY12 to maintain its asset quality.

ICICI Bank dropped nearly 2%. Among metals stocks, Sterlite Industries fell 3.5% for the second consecutive session today. JSPL and Tata Steel were down 1.5-2.5%.

Shares of country's largest realty firm DLF tanked 4%. Among others, L&T and Bharti Airtel fell 1-1.5%.

However, major largecaps like Reliance, TCS, Infosys, ITC, HDFC Bank, BHEL and ONGC gained 0.7-1.9%. Sun Pharma and Hero Motocorp were up 1.6%.

Stocks in news

Tata Communications gained nearly 5% as the company is going to announce the biggest partnership to date tomorrow.

IOB allots 17.1 crore and 3.09 crore equity shares to GoI and LIC, respectively at Rs 97.80/sh via preferential issue. The stock fell 1.5%.

Taj GVK gained 1.5% as the company is looking to raise Rs 70-75 cr via equity placement, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.