Live Market Updates: Nifty edgy despite FM, Kamal Nath assurance; HDIL down 12%

Moneycontrol Bureau

Equity benchmarks continue to be weak though they tried to pull back after finance minister P Chidambaram and parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath held a press conference to assure that the government was not under any threat after DMK pullout; and that it has always stood for the rights of the Tamils.

Despite the message, which sent out positive signal briefly, the market remained nervous. The 30-share was down 46.56 points at 18961.54, and the Nifty was trading 22.35 points lower at 5723.55. Asian markets were trading mixed.

The indices saw some support from FMCG, Pharma and metal companies with HUL, ruling at the top with 2 percent gains. Among pharma companies, Cipla, Lupin and Sun Pharma were up 1.7 percent, 1.5 percent and 1 percent, respectively while metal stocks like Sterlite and Sesa Goa were up over 1 percent.

NTPC lost 2.74 percent on poor response from government’s discom restructuring plan. Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said eight states are on board for the scheme. These states account for Rs 1.5 lakh crore of accumulated losses, much lower than Rs 1.9 lakh crore the bailout scheme had hoped for.