Market Update: HDFC, BPCL top losers, RComm tanks over 10%; Axis Bank hits fresh 52-week high

The Nifty and the Sensex extended their morning loses with the Nifty shedding 44 points while the Sensex was down 87 points.

Bank Nifty was almost flat, up 0.02 percent led by State Bank of India which was up 1.75 percent while Bank of Baroda was up 2 percent and Axis Bank added 1.5 percent.

The Nifty midcap index was trading up by 0.1 percent led by Jaiprakash Associates which zoomed over 13 percent followed by Jain Irrigation, Jubilant Food, MRF and Union Bank.

From the Nifty, the stocks that gained the most were Sun Pharma which jumped 2 percent while Mahindra & Mahindra added 1.97 percent. State Bank of India, Axis Bank and Tata Consultancy Services were the other top Nifty gainers.

The most active stocks included SBI, Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC and Mahindra & Mahindra.

The top Nifty losers were BPCL which slumped 2.81 percent followed by Coal India which fell 2.78 percent. ONGC, Bosch and HDFC were the other top Nifty losers.

From the BSE, the stocks that gained the most included Jai Prakash Asssociates, Adani Transmission, Amara Raja Batteries, Balkrishna Industries and Jindal Steel & Power were the other top Sensex gainers.

The top losers included Reliance Communications which tanked over 10 percent while Rattan India was down over 6 percent. Suzlon Energy, Redington India and IL&FS Tranaport were the other top Sensex losers.

59 stocks hit new 52-week high on the NSE including Axis Bank, Balkrishna Industries, Hexaware Tech, Finolex Cables, Jubilant Foodworks, Nestle India, Rain Industries and Tube Investments.

From the BSE, 115 stocks hit fresh 52-week high including TCS, Proctor & Gamble, Cera Sanitaryware, Lux Industries, Hindustan Unilever and Hatsun Agro.

The market breadth was in favour of the declines on Monday afternoon with 719 stocks advancing as against 919 declines. On the other hand, 1162 stocks advanced and 1387 stocks declined on the BSE.

Research firm CLSA has maintained a buy on State Bank of India and has hiked the target price to Rs 400 from Rs 350. It has however cut the earnings estimates by 6-13 percent to build higher credit costs and weaker topline.

IDFC Securities has upgraded SBI to outperform from neutral and has hiked the target to Rs 375 from Rs 275.
Mitessh Thakkar of miteshthacker.com has a buy on State Bank of India with a stop loss of Rs 324 for target of Rs 355 and a buy on Hindustan Unilever with a stop loss below Rs 1274.50 for target of Rs 1325.