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Markets end flat; Nifty hovers around 7,850

Last updated on: April 29, 2016 15:48 IST

The Bombay Stock Exchange

 

Benchmark share indices lost ground in noon trades on Friday with ICICI Bank leading the decline after the private lender reported sharp drop in fourth quarter earnings because of higher provisioning.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended flat at 25,606 and the Nifty50 ended flat at 7,849.

Market breadth was weak with 1393 losers and 864 gainers on the BSE.

ICICI Bank was the top Sensex losers after it posted a steep fall in its net profit for the quarter that ended in March 2016 at Rs 702 crore.

The lender reported an over 70% fall in its net profit on a year on year basis. It had posted a net profit of Rs 3,018.13 crore in the December quarter.

The lender kept an exceptional provisioning of Rs 3,600 crore.

Other Sensex losers include, Reliance Industries, SBI, Tata Motors, ITC and Bharti Airtel.

Pharma shares trimmed some of their early gains. Lupin was up 1.6% after it strengthened its branded drug portfolio in the US market with the relaunch of Methergine oral tablets to control postpartum hemorrhage (post delivery blood loss).

Sun Pharma and Cipla were up nearly 1% each.

Shares of Dabur were up over 2% at Rs 275 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company said that its board with a view to meet the growing demand for products approved capital expenditure of Rs 250 crore for setting up a manufacturing plant at Tezpur, Assam.

SI Reporter in Mumbai
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