The Indian stock market, which opened lower on weak cues from Asian peers, continues to languish in negative territory due to sustained selling at several front line counters.
The Sensex is down 81.21 points or 0.27% at 29,948.53, while the Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange is 31.80 points or 0.34% at 9310.35.
ITC, the most prominent loser in the Sensex, is down 2.1% at Rs 279. HDFC and Bharti Airtel are both down by about 2%. Hindustan Unilever and HDFC Bank are both down 1.3%. Larsen & Toubro, Cipla, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Infosys and Reliance Industries are modestly lower.
Maruti Suzuki is trading more than 3% up.The stock hit a new high at Rs 6579.90 on BSE this afternoon. The carmaker on Thursday had reported a 15.7% year on year jump in net profit for the fourth quarter to Rs 1709 crore. Sales revenue for the fourth quarter was up 20% to Rs 18,005 crore. The company sold 414,439 vehicles in the quarter, an increase of 15% over year-ago quarter. Maruti Suzuki has declared a dividend of Rs 75 per share of face value. For 2015-16, the company had paid a dividend of Rs 35 per share.
ONGC is gaining 2.5%, lifted by news that the company made 23 oil and gas discoveries in the fiscal year ended March 31 as a record number of wells drilled helped it uncover new reserves.
State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Coal India are up 1% - 1.7%. Bajaj Auto, GAIL India, Adani Ports, Hero Motocorp, Tata Motors, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Lupin and Dr Reddy's Laboratories are gaining 0.4% - 0.85%.
