"Kabali" may be the buzzword across India on Friday, but the frenzied mood surrounding the Rajinikanth film is nowhere to be seen on the stock markets, with both the benchmark indices — the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50 — witnessing subdued trading. Many Indian and foreign companies have tied up with the movie launched on July 22 to cash in on Rajini's popularity.
The 30-scrip Sensex was down around 30 points and trading at 27,682 at around 10.49 a.m.after opening with modest gains, while the broader, 50-scrip index had edged 8 points lower to 8,502.
Top Sensex losers were Bajaj Auto, Infosys, State Bank of India and Wipro. On the NSE, Bajaj Auto, Bosch, Infosys and Ambuja Cement were the index losers.
Nifty 50 shares in the green included Power Grid Corporation and GAIL(India).
L&T Infotech shares were trading at Rs. 707 apiece, below the issue price of Rs. 710 after making a dismal debut on Thursday, when the shares listed with a 6 percent discount. The sixth largest IT software services company is a subsidiary of engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro.
ITC was trading almost flat at Rs. 249.95. The diversified company with interests in cigarettes, hotels, paperboards and agriculture had reported a 10 percent rise in net profit to Rs. 2,384.67 crore on an 8 percent increase in sales to Rs.13,256 crore for the first quarter ended June 2016.
Biocon shares were up 5.84 percent at Rs. 742.50 apiece on Friday after the Bengaluru-based, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw-led company posted 34.4 percent jump in June 2016 quarter net profit to Rs. 166.6 crore.
Companies that are slated to declare their first (June) quarter results on Friday include Axis Bank, Federal Bank, Equitas Holdings and L&T Housing Finance.
The Indian rupee at 67.18 to the US dollar on Friday.
