The Indian equity market was lacklustre at noon on August 8 as investors chose to remain on the sidelines ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s rate outcome and US retail inflation numbers for July, both of which will be released on August 10.

The benchmark indices opened marginally higher but persisting caution dragged them into the red. A mixed trend in Asian markets, largely due to a steeper-than-expected drop in China’s exports in July, didn’t help matters.

At noon, the Sensex was down 106 points, or 0.16 percent, at 65,847.48 and the Nifty was trading 30.60 points, or 0.16 percent, lower at 19,566.70.

“While global cues will continue to dictate trends, investors would be watchful of the two key catalysts — RBI’s monetary policy and US inflation data on Thursday,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities. “For traders, stop loss for Nifty is at 19,217, while targets are placed at 19,877-20,000 levels.”

Follow our market blog for all the live action

Sectors and stocks

About 1,524 shares advanced, 1,548 declined, and 109 were unchanged.

Most sectors, including metals, information technology, automobiles, FMCG, and infra were trading in the red, down 0.3-1.1 percent. Among the few outliers were pharma and banks, both PSUs and private, which managed to hold on to the gains.

On the stock front, Hero MotoCorp was the top Nifty50 gainer, surging over 4 percent on strong bookings for its recently launched Harley Davidson X440. Cipla gained 2 percent on a strong growth outlook.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, however, was down 3 percent, the worst performer in the Nifty50 pack, ahead of its April-June earnings.

Quarterly earnings also triggered stock-specific reactions. Gland Pharma was locked in a 20 percent upper circuit after brokerages forecasted the beginning of a turnaround after the Q1 results.

Other stocks that gained from their strong quarterly numbers were ITD Cementation, Jupiter Wagons, Emami and Indigo Paints. In contrast, Tata Chemicals, Olectra Greentech, Sobha and Monte Carlo tanked following a dismal performance in the April-June quarter.

The broader market mirrored the benchmarks. The Nifty midcap 100 was down 0.5 percent, while the Nifty smallcap 100 shed 0.3 percent.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.