BSE down for second straight day; Tata Motors down 8%

The Indian equity markets opened positive but quickly fell below the red line, trading down for a second straight session even though global indices were trading stronger.

At 10.29 am, Sensex was trading at 28,284.64 down by 54.67 points or 0.19%, while Nifty was below 10 points or 0.11% at 8782.30.

The Indian rupee was trading higher against US dollar. The rupee was trading at 66.925 above 0.097 paise or 0.14%.

Top gainers were – ITC at Rs 273.80 per piece (1.11%), followed by Adani Ports at Rs 310 per piece (1.01%), Larsen and Toubro at Rs 1503.45 per piece (0.71%), Mahindra & Mahindra at Rs 1311 per piece (0.69%) and Wipro at Rs 478.10 per piece (0.67%).

On the BSE, Tata Motors and Sun Pharma were the top losers post third quarter ended December 31, 2016, performance.

Shares of Tata Motors are trading at Rs 447.40 per piece, lower by Rs 39.40 or 8.09%. The company on Tuesday, reported net profit of Rs 111.57 crore in Q3, declining by 96% from Rs 2952.67 crore a year ago same period.

While Sun Pharma is trading at Rs 627 per piece on BSE, tumbling by Rs 23.15 or 3.56%. The company's consolidated net profit in Q3, fell by 4.73% to Rs 1,471.82 crore as against Rs 1,544.85 crore same period of last year.

The stocks of companies which are scheduled to announce their Q3FY17 result on Wednesday, will be in focus. Companies like Nestle India, Gammon India and CESC will be announcing their result.

Asian stocks rose in early morning, as Wall Street recorded highs overnight after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen commented in favor of an interest rate hike next month, while the dollar hovered near three-week highs.

On Tuesday, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) or whole sale inflation for the January 2017, stood at 5.25% compared to 3.39% in the month of December 2016 and -1.07% in the similar month of previous year.