Equity benchmarks were trading almost flat on Thursday, taking a respite from a sustained bull run that saw both the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty hitting new 52-week high on Wednesday.
At around 10.07 a.m, the 30-scrip Sensex was up 12 points at 28,463 while the broader, 50-scrip NSE Nifty was trading with gains of seven points at 8,793.
Top Sensex gainers were GAIL (India), ICICI Bank and Tata Motors, while HDFC Bank, Wipro and Larsen & Toubro were trading with minor losses. The adverse ruling by the Supreme Court over land allotted to Tata Motors by the then Left Front government in 2006 failed to impact the stock on the bourses.
Auto companies will be declaring their August domestic car sales data along with export figures and are expected to influence market movements. Maruti Suzuki shares were almost flat at Rs. 5,052.60 apiece, while Mahindra was up 0.80 percent at Rs. 1,449.50.
Cement stocks such as UltraTech Cement, Ambuja Cements, Prism Cement and ACC were in the red after Thursday's adverse ruling by the Competition Commission of India that slapped a penalty of Rs. 6,700 crore over charges of cartelisation.
The June quarter (Q1) GDP data released on Wednesday after trading hours has not made much impact on stocks. The economic growth rate of 7.1 percent was the weakest in the past five years, as a result of disappointing numbers in construction, mining and agriculture.
RBL Bank shares consolidated their gains after listing at a premium on Wednesday. On Thursday, the stock was up 4.24 percent at Rs. 312.
The buzz over an apartment complex in Bengaluru likely to be demolished by the city's civic body for alleged violations did not impact the stock price of Prestige Estates Projects.
The Karnataka government said in a media briefing after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that 141 houses have been demolished till date resulting in recovery of 29.8 acres of land. The drive will be stepped up in line with a Karnataka High Court of 2011, said T B Jayachandra, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister told reporters in Bengaluru.
Earlier, the city's civic body — Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) — had said 244 public roads and 935 agricultural plots and vacant housing sites have been identified as sitting on encroached storm water drains and will be demolished.
