Sensex, Nifty weak amid consolidation; Jet, SpiceJet most active

Moneycontrol Bureau12:59 pm Market Update: The Sensex remained under pressure in afternoon trade, falling 48.02 points to 26818.90 and the Nifty declined 17.70 points to 8220.80.12:45 pm Europe opens: European stocks opened slightly lower, taking a breather after sharp gains seen in the previous session following polls that allayed fears of a Brexit.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.3 percent.

European stocks closed 3.7 percent higher on Monday as Brexit fears eased with London's FTSE index seeing the most gains since August 2015, closing up 3 percent. France's CAC and Germany's DAX closed up 3.5 and 3.4 percent respectively, also posting their best days for several months.12:30 pm Interview: Speaking to CNBC-TV, Vikram Mahajan, Director, Business Development of Premier Explosives said that the government relaxing FDI rules in the sector is good for the country and for his company. Foreign original equipment manufacturers who had held back from striking deals because of a closed regime will now be forthcoming to ink joint ventures with India, he said."We are open to divesting stake in the company and for a strategic tie-up," he said, adding that the company was in talks with players.

The company saw a revenue growth of 20-25 percent last fiscal year. Last fiscal year, the company's turnover was Rs 182 crore while he forecasts it to be Rs 230 crore this fiscal year. Strictly going by the order book to take stock of the company's revenues wouldn't be fair, he said, as a few orders will take time to come on stream. 

12:15 pm Bank of India in news: Bank of India has sold its 18 percent stake in Star Union Dai-lchi Life Insurance Company (SUD) to Dai-ichi Life Insurace Company Limited (DILIC).

Hence, the shareholding of DILIC will be 44 percent, up from 26 percent upon completion of the transaction after receiving necessary statutory / regulatory approvals.Shareholding of Bank of India will be 30 percent down from 48 percent while Union Bank continues to hold 26 percent.Also read - Nomura cautious on ITC cigarette biz growth but sees volume boost in FY1712:00 pm Market Check

Equity benchmarks were marginally higher amid consolidation in noon trade despite positive Asian peers. Global investors are eagarly waiting for the Britain referendum that will decide whether the country stay in European Union or leave.

Jonathan Garner of Morgan Stanley says if Britain stays in European Union, he will expect gains of 3 percent on the MSCI Asia Ex-Japan/Emerging Markets in the short term. Markets are close to base case targets, with poor underlying earnings revisions trends, he believes.

If Britain leaves 28-member union, he will expect an initial 8 percent decline on MSCI Asia Ex-Japan/Emerging Markets as markets start to explore bear case targets.

The Sensex declined 46.22 points to 26820.70 and the Nifty fell 15.50 points or 0.19% at 8223 while the broader markets continued to outperform.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.3-0.4 percent on positive market breadth. About 1266 shares advanced against 953 declining shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

SpiceJet, Gujarat Pipavav, Jet Airways, PI Industries, SBI, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and Axis Bank were most active shares on exchanges.