Sensex down 31 pts; DLF, Tata Power continue to trade weak

The market is having a choppy ride today with investors mostly treading cautiously amid a lack of triggers. Data revealing a slight fall in FII purchases last Friday appears to be hurting sentiment a bit.

Profit taking after recent strong gains is also contributing to the decline of some front line stocks. Realty stocks are slightly off their early lows, but are still mostly languishing in negative territory. Capital goods and information technology stocks are also trading weak.

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Metal and power stocks are also seen struggling for support. Bank, FMCG and automobile stocks are trading mixed. Select oil, healthcare and consumer durables stocks are trading firm with impressive gains.

The BSE benchmark Sensex is down 30.78 points or 0.17% at 17,717.91, while the Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange is down with a loss of 12.80 points or 0.2% at 5368.80.

In the currency market, the rupee strengthened against the US dollar. The partially convertible rupee was at 49.25 per dollar in early trades, up 17 paise from its previous close.

Realty stock DLF is down nearly 3% at Rs 224 on weak results. Tata Power (down 2.8% at Rs 107.65) is also trading lower on disappointing quarterly numbers. Wipro has lost around 2.3% at Rs 437.80.

State Bank of India, Cipla, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Sterlite Industries, Bharti Airtel and Hindalco are down 0.5% - 1.8%.

Tata Consultancy Services is down with a loss of 1.1% at Rs 1216. The company has announced that the Greater Paris Investment Agency had conferred on TCS the "Prix special de l'innovation de Paris-lle de France Capitate Economique 2011"

Hero Motocorp is up 1.8% at Rs 2005. Coal India, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank and GAIL India are trading higher by 1.5% - 1.7%. Reliance Industries is up with a gain of 1.3% and Bajaj Auto is trading 1% up, while HDFC is up by a little over half a percent.

Indiabulls Financial Services, Bosch, Financial Technologies, Britannia Industries, Gitanjali Gems, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers, Apollo Hospitals, Indraprastha Gas, Mphasis, Tata Global Beverages and Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals are up 3% - 7% now.

Suzlon Energy is down by over 6.5% on weak results. Suzlon Energy's consolidates sales declined to Rs 4,985.79 crore in the quarter ended December 2011 as against Rs 5,071 crore reported in the same quarter a year ago. Its net loss widened at Rs 286.46 crore from net loss of Rs 253.57 crore in the same period a year ago.

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Sun TV Network is down with a loss of 5.4%. Pantaloon Retail is down by around 5%. Shriram Transport Finance, Shree Renuka Sugars, Adani Power, Federal Bank, ABB, Aurobindo Pharma, Indian Overseas Bank and Adani Enterprises are also down with sharp losses.