Indian markets flat; HPCL slumps 3% despite robust Q1 performance

Indian equity indices continue to trade lower for the second consecutive day. 

Both the Sensex and Nifty were trading flat in morning trade. At 10.19 am, the Sensex was down 7.11 points or 0.03% at Rs 27,979.223, while Nifty was down by 1.30 points or 0.02%. 

The 30-stock index was negative with 10 advances and 20 declines; the 51-stock Nifty index also followed the sentiments with 19 advances, 32 declines. 

The performance of the domestic market was expected on the back of mixed trade in the global markets. 

The SGX Nifty slumped by 0.11% to 8,618, followed by lacklustre trade in Asian market. 

China's Shanghai SSE Composite Index was trading sluggish, up by 6.70 points or 0.22% to 3091.50 and Japan's Nikkei 225 was flat at 16,604.03. Hong Kong's Hang Seng had slumped by 74 points or 0.32% to 22,924.50. 

Domestic banking have been under selling pressure since the announcement of Urjit Patel taking over as the next Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor replacing Raghuram Rajan by September 4,2016. 

Nifty Bank was down 45 points or 0.23% at 19,285.30, with Axis Bank as sole gainer. Shares of Axit Bank surged Rs 2.40 or 0.41% to Rs 582.65. All other banking stocks were down on NSE the index. 

Later in the week, investors may remain cautious to bet in the domestic market as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) that have been strengthening the markets as net buyers, sold cash shares around Rs 300 crore on Monday. 

Top gainers on the BSE index was Infosys, up by 1.72% at Rs 1032.90, followed by another IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) at Rs 2591.95, above 1.59%, and Gail India at Rs 369.30, up 1.44%. 

Other noticeable gainers were Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Axis Bank, and Wipro, trading in the range of 0.40% - 1%. 

The top losers were, NTPC at Rs 162.15 (0.86%), Bajaj Auto at Rs 2909.80 (0.74%), Larsen & Toubro at Rs 1481 (0.70%), Hero MotoCorp at RS 3315.20 (0.68%). 

The shares of Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) slumped by Rs 35.60 or 3% to Rs 1178 despite robust June quarter results. The company has posted a net profit of Rs. 2098.38 crore for the first quarter as compared to Rs. 1614.13 crore for the same period last year.