Nifty below 8250, Sensex in red; ITC, BHEL, Hero early gainers

Moneycontrol Bureau 9:55 am The decline in gross domestic product (GDP) for the second half of the year is likely to be more stark than government estimates, says Tanvee Gupta Jain, India Economist Research at Macquarie Capital Securities. Macquarie estimates 6 percent growth against the 6.7 percent estimate by the CSO for the second half of the current financial year.The advance estimate for GDP for the fiscal year 2017 released on Friday shows India's growth is set to slow down to 7.1 percent in this financial year but this does not include the impact of demonetisation. 9:45 am Market check: The Sensex is down 27.54 points or 0.1 percent at 26731.69, and the Nifty is down 5.05 points at 8238.75. About 1073 shares have advanced, 640 shares declined, and 388 shares are unchanged.

Dr Reddy's, Wipro, Asian Paints, TCS and M&M are losers in the Sensex. ITC, BHEL, Adani Ports, Hero and ONGC are gainers.

9:30 am FII view: Sanjay Mookim of Bank of America Merrill Lynch says while the consensus Sensex earnings growth expectation for FY17 has come down to 8 percent from 20 percent at the beginning of the fiscal, FY18 earnings growth expectations at 18 percent is still high. Factoring the impact of demonetisation, on a top down basis, he expects Sensex FY18-19 EPS growth to be 12-14 percent.This relatively robust earnings growth could drive Sensex to 29,000 by December 2017, Mookim feels.Don't miss: Buy, sell, hold: 11 stocks that analysts are watching out todayThe market has opened in green Monday. The Sensex is up 93.34 points or 0.3 percent at 26852.57 and the Nifty is up 15.95 points or 0.2 percent at 8259.75. About 300 shares have advanced, 97 shares declined, and 323 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel, HDFC and Bajaj Auto are top gainers while Bharti Airtel, TCS, GAIL, Lupin and ICICI Bank are losers in the Sensex.