Sensex rangebound, Nifty tests 8150; top ten stocks in focus

NEW DELHI: The S&P BSE Sensex was trading in a narrow range on Tuesday tracking muted trend seen in other Asian markets. L&T, M&M, ITC, ICICI Bank and ONGC were top Sensex losers.

Tracking the momentum, the 50-share Nifty index was also trading near its crucial psychological level of 8150, weighed down by losses in realty, oil & gas, metal and banking stocks.

At 11:19 a.m.; the 30-share index was at 27,144.23, down 62.51 points. The Nifty was at 8126.40, down 19.9 points.

Here is a list of ten stocks which are in focus today:

Colgate Palmolive India Ltd: The Board declared a First Interim Dividend for the Financial Year 2014-15 of Rs. 8 per share of Re 1 each (face value).

At 10:00 a.m.; the stock was trading 0.8 per cent lower at Rs 1638.70.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd: The Delhi High Court Monday dismissed an appeal by the Haryana State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (HSEIAA) against an order restraining it from "prosecuting" carmaker Maruti Suzuki for not having prior environment clearance (EC) for its unit in Rohtak.

At 10:00 a.m.; the stock was trading 0.9 per cent higher at Rs 3091.

PNB: Punjab National Bank (PNB) has said its plans to split its stock in ratio of 1:5 which would mean that the face value of its shares would be Rs 2 as against Rs 10 now making it more affordable to retail investors.

RIL Ltd: Reliance Jio Infocomm has signed a deal with Indus Towers to share the latter's 113,490 towers as the Mukesh Ambani-led telecom company prepares to roll out high speed internet services on LTE next year.

At 10:00 a.m.; the stock was trading 0.2 per cent lower at Rs 989.20.

GMR Infrastructure Ltd: GMR Infrastructure Ltd has sought market regulator Sebi's clearance to raise up to Rs 1,500 crore through a rights issue.

At 10:00 a.m.; the stock was trading 0.4 per cent lower at Rs 22.65.

L&T, ITC and Axis Bank: Buoyed by the success of its exchange-traded fund comprising stocks of state-owned companies, the government is now looking to launch another such exercise to take advantage of the ownership of blue chips such as ITC and Larsen & Toubro through the Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), besides some other key public sector stocks.

At 10:00 a.m.; L&T was trading 0.9 per cent lower at Rs 1519, ITC was down 0.38 per cent to Rs 369.25 and Axis Bank was trading 0.5 per cent lower at Rs 406.

CIL: Coal India may raise prices of lower-grade coal, used to generate power, by a little over 10%, a move that will help offset the fall in miner's revenues from selling smaller volumes through e-auctions, said media reports.

At 10:00 a.m.; the stock was trading 0.6 per cent lower at Rs 341.

Jaiprakash Power Ventures: The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is likely to issue a show cause notice to JP Associates' 100% subsidiary Jaiprakash Power Ventures (JPVL) for violating techno-economic clearance (TEC) conditions in the Karcham Wangtoo project, said media reports.

At 10:00 a.m.; the stock was trading 1.6 per cent lower at Rs 14.70.