Sensex, Nifty consolidate; Maruti, Jet, SpiceJet most active

Moneycontrol Bureau12:58 pm Market Update: Equity benchmarks remained flat. The Sensex declined 13.34 points to 24479.05 and the Nifty fell 0.20 points to  7437.55.The market breadth was negative as about 1228 shares declined against 1113 advancing shares on the BSE.12:45 pm Earnings: Online classifieds company Info Edge's third quarter earnings disappointed analysts on Thursday with profit falling 43.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 21.7 crore, impacted by exceptional loss of Rs 11.5 crore related to provision for Canvera and lower other income.

It reported an exceptional loss of Rs 11.5 crore for the quarter. "Info Edge made provision for diminution in value of investments amounting to Rs 42.7 crore related to Canvera Digital Technologies and additional provision for bonus amounting to Rs 2.94 crore for previous financial year," it detailed.

The company also transferred its investment in eTechaces Marketing & Consulting to its subsidiary Makesense Technologies for Rs 51.3 crore, which resulted in profit of Rs 34.2 crore. Revenue during the quarter increased 19 percent to Rs 173.4 crore compared to Rs 145.7 crore in same quarter last fiscal.12:15 pm Market Expert: Slow pace of reforms as well as global volatility remain key concerns for the domestic market, says Mahantesh Sabarad, Deputy-VP Research at SBICap Securities.Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Sabarad says he is positive on sectors like banks, automobile, auto ancillaries and cement. While the banks are yet to come out of asset quality troubles, certain midcap names are attractive due to low valuations, he says. Also read - Mkt close to bottom; pick-up in investments key: Credit Suisse12:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks continued to consolidate ahead of expiry of January futures & options contracts. Asian markets remained mixed in trade while crude saw selling pressure.

The Sensex dropped 34.90 points to 24457.49 and the Nifty fell 7.15 points to 7430.60. The BSE Midcap declined 0.3 percent while Smallcap was flat.

ITC, HUL, M&M and Sun Pharma were leading contributors to Sensex's gains, up 1-2 percent while HDFC, ICICI Bank, L&T and Maruti Suzuki were down more than 1 percent.

SpiceJet, Jet Airways, Wockhardt, Maruti Suzuki, SKS Microfinance, Reliance Infrastructure and Sun Pharma were most active shares.

Markets in Asia were mixed, but largely trimmed earlier losses, despite a lower finish on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve appeared to temper its expectations for US economic growth. Shanghai declined 1 percent and Nikkei slipped 0.7 percent.

Crude oil futures fell around 1 percent in Asian trading, eroding gains of nearly 3 percent made in the previous session after Russia held out the possibility of cooperating with OPEC to control global oversupply.