Markets snap 5-day winning streak; Nifty holds 8,150

Markets ended lower amid volatile trade with Sun Pharma leading the decline.

Markets snapped five-day winning streak, amid a volatile trading session, with Sun Pharma leading the decline after its fourth quarter earnings missed street estimates and weak annual sales guidance.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended down 58 points at 26,668 and the Nifty50 settled 18 points lower at 8,160. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended down 0.1%-0.3% each.

"Markets remained tepid in trade Tuesday with no significant moves in either direction. Tata Motors shares soared on Q4 earnings, the stock jumped over 10 percent intraday after a remarkable turnaround of its struggling domestic unit. Sun Pharma on the other hand fell on weak sales guidance to close the day over 6% lower. Technically the indices still look to be part of a longer term uptrend and we would advise allocating funds to equities at this juncture," said Nikhil Kamath, Co-Founder & Director, Zerodha.

Benchmark share indices had surged nearly 6% in the previous five session with the  Sensex adding nearly 1,500 points on expectation of above normal monsoon, positive earnings surprises and buying support from domestic institutions.

Meanwhile, the government is scheduled to announce GDP for the fourth quarter and financial year ended March 31, 2016 later today.

Sun Pharma was the top Sensex loser which ended down 6% on the back of lower than expected annual sales outlook and pressure on profits on the back of higher spends to strengthen its US operations.

Although the company posted robust earnings for March 2016 they were below Bloomberg estimates on both revenue and profit.

Net profit for the quarter surged 92% to Rs 1,713 crore as compared to Rs 889 crore in same quarter previous year while revenue grew nearly 25% to Rs 7634 crore.

IT exporters which had gained in the previous session eased on profit taking after the rupee firmed up against the US dollar. Infosys, TCS and Wipro ended down 0.7%-1.8% each.

Tata Motors ended as the top Sensex gainer up nearly 8% after robust March 2016 quarter earnings were above street expectations on the back of the performance of the company’s Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit.

For the March 2016 quarter consolidated profit after tax surged over 200% to Rs 5,177 crore against Rs 1,717 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

Auto shares firmed up ahead of their May sales numbers. Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp ended up 0.6%-2% each.

Reliance Industries ended down 0.7%. According to a PTI report,  the company has sold its stake in African fuel retailer GAPCO (Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation's) to Total SA of France for an undisclosed sum.

ONGC ended down 0.6%. ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), today announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SOCAR Trading SA, the trading arm of Azerbaijan's government-owned energy firm SOCAR, for foraying into oil trading business.

Among others, Jewellery stocks ended higher on reports the government has rolled back its budget decision to apply 1% tax collection at source (TCS) on cash purchase of gold jewellery of Rs 2 lakh and above and raised the threshold to the earlier Rs 5 lakh with effect from 1 June 2016.

Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri, Shree Ganesh Jewellery House, Tara Jewels, Gitanjali Gems, Titan Company and PC Jeweller ended 1%-5% higher. 

Aurobindo Pharma has moved higher by 5% to Rs 795 on the BSE in noon deals after the company reported 39% year on year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 563 crore for the quarter ended March 2016 (Q4FY16) on the back of healthy growth in net sales.  Consolidated revenues grew 19% YoY at Rs 3,747 crore on YoY basis.

Nava Bharat Ventures surged 11% to end at Rs 182 after its net profit more than doubled to Rs 58 crore for the quarter ended March 2016 (Q4FY16) against Rs 24 crore in a year ago quarter.

Monsanto India ended nearly 3% higher at Rs 2,245 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company reported a net profit of Rs 24.1 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared to a loss of Rs 8.3 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.