Nifty erases early gains; HUL, ITC lose over 2%

Moneycontrol Bureau

Key equity benchmarks came under a bit of selling pressure, giving up their early morning gains, after a disappointing set of IIP numbers, ignoring better-than-expected results for IT bellwether Infosys.

CNX IT has so far maintained its momentum after Infosys declared better-than-expected third quarter numbers. Infosys, Wipro, TCS and HCL Tech were the top performers on the Nifty rising 14.2 percent, 3.31 percent, 3.20 percent and 1.48 percent. (How to trade TCS ahead of its Q3 results on Monday)

At 12.34 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 57.81 points or 0.29% at 19721.36, and the Nifty up 4.15 points or 0.07% at 5972.80.

Shares in Sterlite Industries (India) were up 2 percent to Rs 117.90 after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "neutral" and raises its target price to Rs 142 from Rs 110.20.

Among the major laggards, FMCG majors HUL and ITC were down nearly 2.5 percent.

Oil was trading mixed in Asia today with some traders taking profits after stronger-than-expected trade data out of China. Back home, refinery major HPCL was trading at Rs 327.25 down 1.16%. Index heavyweight Reliance was trading at Rs 839.70 down 1.16% from its previous close of Rs 849.55.

Shares of debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines were under pressure once again after Reuters reported via a source that the planned investment of Rs 6.5 billion will to not enough to restart operations at the grounded Indian carrier.

About 929 shares have advanced, 1661 shares declined, and 799 shares are unchanged.