Sensex, Nifty edge lower dragged by losses in Infosys, TCS

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Thursday ahead of monthly expiry of futures and option contracts. The Sensex fell as much as 329 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 24,245 dragged down by losses in Infosys , Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, ITC, Tech Mahindra and HDFC Bank . However, losses were capped owing to buying interest in Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank , Sun Pharma, Power Grid and Axis Bank .

As of 9:35 am, the Sensex was down 255 points at 79,686 and Nifty 50 index slipped 87 points to 24,268.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note as Japan's Nikkei fell 0.73 per cent, Australia's S&P ASX 200 index declined 0.22 per cent while China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.4 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.5 per cent.

Back home, eight of 13 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty IT index's 1.5 per cent fall. Auto, financial services, FMCG, metal and consumer durable shares were also facing selling pressure.

On the other hand, healthcare, realty, pharma and banking shares were witnessing buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a mixed note as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.1 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.25 per cent.

Infosys was top Nifty loser, the stock fell nearly 2 per cent to Rs 1,768. Tech Mahindra , TCS , Titan, HDFC Life, Shriram Finance, HCL Technologies, Bharat Electronics and Trent also fell between 1-1.8 per cent.

On the flipside, Cipla was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 8 per cent to Rs 1,532 after the US Food and Drug Administration gave its Voluntary Action Indicated (VAI) status to its Goa manufacturing unit.

Larsen & Toubro advanced 5 per cent to Rs 3,578 after it reported a second-quarter profit jump on Wednesday, helped by faster execution of previously-commissioned projects even as order book declined.

The company's consolidated profit after tax jumped 5 per cent to Rs 3,395 crore in the three months ended September 30.

Hero MotoCorp, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank, ONGC and ICICI Bank were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,769 shares were advancing while 1,123 were declining on the BSE.