Sensex, Nifty slip into red after positive start

Some buying activity is seen in auto, capital goods, healthcare, metal and power sectors, while IT, oil and gas, bankex and fmcg sectors are showing weakness on BSE.

At 9:27 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 29,334 down 128 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,879 down 17 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.26% at 10,861, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.35% at 11,414.

Some buying activity is seen in auto, capital goods, healthcare, metal and power sectors, while IT, oil and gas, bankex and fmcg sectors are showing weakness on BSE.

Crompton Greaves, Jindal steel and Power, JSW Steel, United Brewries, GMR Infra and Tata Motors are among the gainers, whereas ICICI Bank, Coal India, Reliance Industries, ITC and HDFC are losing sheen on BSE.

Cairn India has laid off over 200 employees. “The past few months have brought significant changes in the global oil and gas space. The reductions in crude oil prices have deleteriously impacted the sector, globally. At Cairn, we are aligning our working to enable a sustainable competitive business and to deliver our business goals,” the company said in a statement.

Naveen Jindal’s Jindal Power Ltd won back its previously held block — Gare Palma IV/2 & 3 in Chhattisgarh — on day six of the coal block auctions on Thursday, beating Adani Power, Anil Ambani Group’s Reliance Geothermal, GMR and others.

National Stock Exchange (NSE) will auction government debt securities worth Rs. 617 crore for overseas investors next week, whose total investment has crossed 99 per cent of the permitted limit. The auction would be conducted for overseas investors at ‘nse—ebid’ platform for government debt securities, as per information provided by the bourse

DVRs or Differential Voting Right shares for companies like Tata Motors DVR, Jain Irrigation Systems DVR and Future Retail DVR stock prices rallied after BSE's announcement regarding rules for considering differential voting rights shares in S&P BSE Benchmark Indices. Tata Motors DVR closed at 6.62% up from its previous close of Rs. 350.50, at Rs. 373.70.Jain Irrigation Systems' DVR registered spurt in Volume by more than 9.60 times, as the prices surged 5.49% from its previous close of Rs. 47.40 to a share price of Rs. 50.

Asian markets are in the green with Nikkei hitting a 15-year high. Other Asian markets are mostly shut on account of Lunar New Year. The issues surrounding Greece, the cooling of oil prices and mixed economic data from the US continue to keep investors on cautious mode. The US Department of Labor on Thursday said that the weekly jobless claims decreased by 21,000 to 283,000 from the previous week's total of 304,000. US markets closed mixed with Dow and S&P ending the red while Nasdaq managed to eke out some gains.