Sensex today slips 100 pts, Nifty below 12,000; ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, DLF top gainers, YES Bank, Tata Steel top losers

MUMBAI: The benchmark BSE Sensex on Friday slipped nearly 100 points at 40565.31 while the Nifty traded below 12,000 as the domestic markets opened.

ICICI Bank, Power Grid and Sun Pharma and DLF were among the top gainers while YES Bank, Tata Steel, UPL, Bharti Infratel and IndusInd Bank dragged the most.

The most active stocks in the opening trade include Colgate Palmolive, ICICI Bank, ICICI Prudential, Raymond and HDFC Bank.

Benchmark indices reacted after Moody's Investors Services downgraded India's outlook from 'stable' to 'negative'. 

Sectorally, only Nifty Realty, Media and IT indices were trading in the green. Nifty Realty index was the top gainer, up 2.3 per cent. Nifty Pharma and Metal indices were trading 0.5 per cent lower each.

The broader markets, however, were trading in the green. The S&P BSE mid-cap index was up 0.25 per cent, while the S&P BSE small-cap index was up 0.3 per cent.

About 180 companies, including Ashok Leyland, Bank of Baroda, Eicher Motors, M&M, and Nestle are scheduled to report their Q2 earnings today.

According to Reuters, world stocks rallied to near record highs on Friday after China said it had agreed with the United States to cancel tariffs in phases. 

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.2 per cent in early trade while Tokyo’s Nikkei jumped 0.75 per cent to a 13-month high.

Trends on SGX Nifty suggest a negative start for the domestic indices. At 7:35 AM, the index was trading 48 points lower.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones and the S&P 500, gained 0.66 per cent and 0.27 per cent, respectively, to settle at record closing highs during the overnight trade on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite, too, added 0.28 per cent.