The market has started off April series and financial year 2016-17 on a negative note, tracking weak Asian cues. The Sensex fell 79.75 points to 25262.11 and the Nifty declined 30.05 points to 7708.35 on profit booking.
Bharti Airtel, GAIL, Hindalco, Tata Steel, M&M, Aurobindo Pharma and BPCL were losers in early trade while BHEL, Wipro, Coal India, ITC, Cipla, Asian Paints, HCL Tech and Wipro gained.
The biggest losers on the Sensex are ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, M&M, Bharti Airtel, GAIL (India), all dropping between 1%-2% each.
Auto shares will start announcing their March sales numbers from today. Further, diesel car makers such as Tata Motors and M & M may see some pressure after the court extended the ban on registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacity of 2000cc and more in the National Capital Region till further orders.
Tata Motors and M&M have slipped over 1%. Among other peers, Hero Motocorp, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto have slipped between 0.1%- 1% each.
HDFC Bank is set to raise up to Rs 5,000 crore by way of infrastructure bonds. Rating agency CRISIL has assigned AAA/Stable rating to the bond issuance. However, the stock is mildly negative.
UltraTech Cement, a part of the Aditya Birla group, agreed to buy Jaiprakash Associates' 21.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) cement capacity for Rs 15,900 crore on Thursday. Ultratech has gained nearly 1% while Jaiprakash Associates has advanced over 2.5%.