Sensex, Nifty weak; Tata Chemicals rises 7%, Motherson down 5%

Moneycontrol Bureau12:59 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in afternoon trade as the Sensex was down 234.13 points or 0.83 percent at 27851.03 and the Nifty down 79.40 points or 0.91 percent at 8598.85.12:42 pm Europe opens: European stocks traded lower as global investors tread cautiously, considering the timing of the next interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve as well as the outlook for oil prices.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.31 percent.

Oil markets remain in focus for markets amid renewed expectations that OPEC members, due to meet in September, could once again discuss a production freeze. Prices fell today with a global supply overhang weighing on markets. OPEC releases its monthly oil market report today.12:35 pm New listing: Shares of infrastructure firm Dilip Buildcon, which recently concluded its Rs 654-crore initial public offering, will make its stock market debut on Thursday.

Dilip Buildcon's IPO had attracted massive demand, with the offer getting subscribed by around 21 times.

The portion set aside for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was oversubscribed 9.76 times, while non -institutional investors category received 79.64 times subscription and retail investors 2.35 times.

12:20 pm Interview: Lupin's June quarter margins were off 2.5 percent. This was on account of the change in accounting standards, said S Ramesh, CFO of the company. Not just this, the company's research and development (R&D) spends increased tremendously to 60 percent year-on-year (YoY), he added. However, he expects the company's margins to be around 30 percent going forward.In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Ramesh said Lupin is looking at launching specialty and complex products as to stand out in the competition and has a 340 number filings in the pipeline. In a cautiously optimistic approach, he said the company is working with best of consultants to mitigate any risks in its internationla business. Also read - Jhunjhunwala picks up additional stake in Aptech; 3 reasons why he may be buying12:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks remained under pressure with the Sensex falling 219.34 points or 0.78 percent to 27865.82 and the Nifty declining 76.65 points or 0.88 percent to 8601.60.

The broader markets also traded in line with benchmarks as about 1710 shares declined against 729 advancing shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange

Motherson Sumi fell 5 percent on profit booking after the profit and revenue in Q1 grew by over 15 percent on yearly basis and margin failed to hit double digit mark.

Tata Chemicals increased nearly 7 percent after the company decided to sell its urea business to Yara Fertilisers India for Rs 2,670 crore on slump basis.