Sensex drops 66 points, Nifty below 8,800; Adani Ports, Sun pharma in focus

The Dalal Street opened on a negative note during Tuesday trading, despite retail inflation cooling further and stronger global indices. 

At 12.45 pm, Sensex was trading at 28,285.26 below 66 points or 0.23%, and Nifty at 8,782. 95 down by 22 points or 0.25%. 

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee were trading lower against US dollar. The rupee was trading at 66.945 down 0.023 paise or 0.03%.

On February 13, the CPI inflation for January month stood at 3.17% against 3.41% inflation recorded in December month. 

Top gainers were – ITC at Rs 272.75 per share (0.83%), ONGC at Rs 193.25 per share (0.60%), GAIL India at Rs 484 per share (0.73%), Reliance Industries at Rs 1033 per share (0.45%) and Adani Ports at Rs 310.50 per share (0.42%).

While top losers were – Bajaj Auto at Rs 2760 per share (1.65%), Tata Motors at Rs 498.75 per share (1.32%), Coal India at Rs 317.10 per share (1.20%) and Hero Motocorp at Rs 3192.30 (1.06%).

Shares of Infosys also tumbled by 0.61% at Rs 977.50 per piece on BSE after it recorded negative growth in hiring. The IT bellwether had recruited about 6,000 people so far in the current fiscal as against 20,000 to 25,000 every year.

Shares of HPCL tanked over Rs 13 or 2.29%, trading at Rs 564.90 per piece on BSE, despite the company reporting 54% rise in Q3FY17. The company reported standalone net profit for of Rs 1,590.31 crore as against Rs 1,041.25 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Stocks of the companies which are set to announce their third quarter result on Tuesday will be in focus. Some key companies are - Sun Pharma, DLF, Jindal Steel & Power, Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises, IVRCL and SpiceJet. 

On Tuesday, Asian shares inched to 19-month highs. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1%. While U.S. equity indexes hit record highs on Monday, with the benchmark S&P 500`s market value rising $20 trillion as investors bet tax cuts promised by President Donald Trump would boost the economy.