Sensex, Nifty lacklustre; Hero Motocorp drops 1%

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened marginally lower amid volatility in early trade due to lack of cues from the Federal Reserve's two days meeting. Asian markets too were mildly down as there was no significant shift in the Federal Reserve policy stance on Wednesday, though doors remain open for further easing. Now globally all eyes are on the outcome from European Central Bank's meet, which will be around 17:15 hours IST.

The BSE benchmark declined 25 points to 17,232.62 and the NSE benchmark went down 10 points to 5,230.50.

Two-wheeler major Hero Motocorp fell more than 2% after disappointing sales numbers for July. Total sales went down by 9.3% month-on-month to 4.84 lakh units in July. Its rival Bajaj Auto was down 0.5% ahead of sales numbers today.

Tata Motors, Sterlite, Hindalco, Bank of Baroda, PNB, SBI, Reliance Industries, L&T, Reliance Infrastructure, Ambuja Cements and IDFC were under pressure.

However, ITC, HUL, NTPC and ICICI Bank were supporting the market.

The CNX Midcap Index too was flat as the market breadth was neutral.

In the second line shares, Kale Consultants shot up 20% after its first quarter profit shot up 333% to Rs 13 crore QoQ.

Voltas opened lower, but immediately bounced back to 3% due to short covering. The stock had already fallen ahead of numbers, so it might have priced in the likely disappointing numbers in Q1. Its consolidated net profit fell to Rs 79.1 crore from Rs 132 crore YoY.

Manappuram Finance rose over 2% after first quarter profit increased to Rs 157.7 crore from Rs 108 crore YoY.

Jaypee Infratech was up 1.6% as The Financial Express reported that Yamuna Expressway will open on August 9.

Dishman Pharma fell 4% on profit booking as it had rallied quite sharply yesterday on Q1 results.

Deccan Chronicle dropped nearly 5% as the market regulator SEBI is probing promoter share pledge veracity.

NIIT Tech tanked 9.5%. Adani Power and HDIL were down 1%. Dish TV was up 0.5%.

Century Textiles added another 0.9% after yesterday's 6% rally on good Q1 results.