LIVE: Domestic markets end flat; Nifty closes below 8,200-mark

Domestic markets ended flat. Sensex closed at 26,635.38, down 7.86 points, or 0.03%, while Nifty at 8,197.45, up 5.20 points, or 0.06%.

Rupee ended down 12 paise at 68.15 against US dollar. 

The shares of HCL Technologies climbed by 2% after the company said it has completed its $85 million acquisition of Butler America Aerospace.

"The acquisition has been completed with effect from January 3, 2017," HCL said in a filing to the BSE.

At 1447 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 856 per piece, up 2.41%, or Rs 20.15 on BSE. 

The shares of MOIL surged nearly 3% after the company hiked electrolytic manganese dioxide price by 5% and chemical grades ore by 15% for January-March quarter.

At 1434 hours the shares of the company were trading at Rs 377.55 per piece, up 2.92%, or Rs 10.70 on BSE.

The shares of Yes Bank inched up after the bank on Wednesday announced its partnership with Sterlite Power Transmission for setting up their Rs 1000 crore transmission project. 

For the project, the bank has underwritten Project Financial Facility of Rs 800 crore for a period of 15 years for the project.

At 1341 hours, the shares of the bank were trading at Rs 1165.85 per piece, up 0.26%, or Rs 3 on BSE. 

Indian currency was trading down 0.14% against US Dollar. At 1230 hours, Rupee was at 68.185, down 0.096 paisa.

During early trade, rupee firmed up by 12 paise to 68.21 against the US dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange after selling of the American currency by exporters and banks intensified.

The shares of Jubilant Life Sciences surged over 12% after the company signed long-term contracts in Radiopharma business.

At 1304 hours, the shares of the company were trading at Rs 715.95 per piece, up 12.24%, or Rs 78.10 on BSE.

The company said that its wholly own subsidiary Jubilant Pharma Limited, through one of its units Jubilant DraxImage Inc. Montreal Canada (JDI), has signed long term contracts with distribution networks in the US for supply of products used for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for thyroid, myocardial perfusion, lung, kidney and bone scans to be supplied by JDI over a period of 39 months effective from January 2017.

Tata Power shares inched up nearly 1% as the company announced the appointment of S. Padmanabhan, additional director on the company board, as chairman of the company.

At 1044 hours, the shares of the company were trading at Rs 76.15 per piece, up 0.59%, or Rs 0.45 on BSE.

The shares of Ramco Systems jumped nearly 8% after the company signed signed multi-million dollar Cloud HR & Payroll transformation deal with Panasonic Group of companies in Malaysia. 

At 1014 hours, the shares of the company were trading at Rs 375 per piece, up 7.81%, or Rs 27.15 on BSE. 

At 1004 hours Tata Motors' shares were trading at Rs 491.25 per piece, up 2.13%, or Rs 10.25. The shares surged as the company on Tuesday launched its first product of the year, the new Tata Xenon Yodha, in the presence of its newly appointed brand ambassador, Akshay Kumar. 

Nifty regains 8,200-mark. At 1004 hours, Nifty was trading at 8,217.50, up 25.25 points, or 0.31%. At the same time, Sensex was trading at 26,718.59, up 75.35 points, or 0.28%.

Sector-wise, Metal, Industrials and Utilities were top gainers with 1.12%, 0.98% and 0.95% up respectively. 

NSE Nifty slipped below 8,200-mark. At 0947 hours, Nifty was trading at 8,198, up 5.75 points, or 0.07%.

At 0925 hours, Sensex was trading at 26,664.20, up 20.96 points, or 0.08%. While Nifty was trading at 8,204.95, up 12.70 points, or 0.16%.

On 30-share benchmark, among top gainers were Tata Motors (1.82%), Tata Steel (0.89%), Dr Reddy's Lab (0.83%), Axis Bank (0.83%) and Coal India (0.75%). Among losers were Reliance Industries (-0.83%), ITC (-0.82%), Hindustan Unilever (-0.56%), Bharti Airtel (-0.21%) and Hero MotoCorp (-0.20%).

On Wednesday, BSE Sensex opened at 26,677.22, up 33.98 points, or 0.13%. While NSE Nifty opened at 8,202.65, up 10.40 points, or 0.13%.

NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex open 0.1% in pre-market trading.

Nifty is at 8199.95 points. 

On Tuesday, BSE Sensex closed at 26,643.24, up 47.79 points, or 0.18%. While, NSE Nifty ended at 8,192.25, up 12.75 points, or 0.16%.

Asian shares were broadly higher with Japan's Nikkei index rallied 2.1% recovering from two sessions of losses as domestic data showed factory activity expanded at the fastest pace in a year. Nikkei also climbed up after US dollar hit a 14-year high overnight against a basket of currencies.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 percent and trying to string together a seventh straight session of gains.

The brightening mood followed a round of upbeat factory surveys from China, the euro zone and United States. 

In the domestic front, the shares of HDFC Bank and Bank of India will be in focus as the banks announced the rate cut by up to 90 basis points as they joined other banks who had already slashed the lending rates early this week.