Sensex, Nifty under pressure; Fed chief Yellen's speech eyed

Moneycontrol Bureau12:59 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained under pressure as the Sensex was down 77.86 points at 27758.05 and the Nifty down 22.65 points at 8569.55.About 1422 shares declined against 963 advancing shares on the BSE.12:40 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened slightly higher as investors stay sidelined amid continued debate among Federal Reserve officials over the timing of a US rate hike and ahead of a speech by the central bank's chair Janet Yellen later in the day.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.16 percent.

Caution has dominated markets in the past few days with a lack of earnings and economic data to drive markets. Instead, investors have been focusing on an upcoming speech by Yellen at Jackson Hole, the annual gathering of central bankers, hoping there might be some hints towards when the next US rate hike might come.12:35 pm Edelweiss on Mahanagar Gas: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation has inked agreements with 4 civil contractors, including J Kumar Infra, for 6 project packages. This will enable the contractors to claim mobilisation advances and start work post the monsoon season, says Edelweiss.

This project comprises around 50 percent of the company's order book. The brokerage house believes J Kumar is the best play on the burgeoning metro rail opportunity in India.

Edelweiss has maintained buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 400.12:20 pm Market Outlook: The sharp rally in the market does cause jitters, given the state of expensive valuations, especially in the midcap space, but overall, markets are moving in the right direction, says Vikas Khemani, President and CEO of Edelweiss Securities.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, he said macroeconomic factors, earnings, bond markets, etc were are all improving and that structural reforms were on track.

In the short term the market may look expensive and go through a time or value correction, but the overall direction seems to be positive, he said.

With reforms introduced by RBI for corporate bonds, banks will now lend less to the industry and corporates will have to borrow more from the market.Also read - Kotak initiates buy on Mahanagar Gas, margin & volume growth key12:00 pm Market Check

The market lost its early gains amid volatility with the Nifty trading below 8600 level, dragged by infra, banking & financials and technology stocks. Asia traded mixed, with traders eyeing a speech from US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen later Friday for clues on the direction of monetary policy.

The Sensex was down 62.86 points at 27773.05 and the Nifty declined 18.60 points at 8573.60. About 1309 shares fell against 981 advancing shares on the BSE.Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, GAIL and Cipla gained 1-3 percent while L&T, SBI, Wipro and ICICI Bank fell over a percent.