Nifty closes below 5,200, Axis Bank falls as bad assets rise

It was a lackluster session on the street today as both the BSE Sensex and the Nifty closed flat. The BSE Sensex declined by two points to 17,105.3 while the Nifty closed below the 5,200 mark at 5,192.85 points. The market breath was negative. On the BSE, 1,755 stocks declined while 1,052 advanced.

Among sectoral indices, rate sensitives were the biggest losers with the autos falling by 1.3 percent followed by the realty index (-1.24 percent). In the 30-share Sensex pack, 17 stock declined led by a 2.43 percent fall in Bajaj Auto (June 2012 results are tomorrow), BHEL (26 July). Wipro was the top gainer with a 1.9 percent increase.

 FIIs have turned net buyers as they have pumped in almost Rs 7,735 crore till 16 July and, Shanti Ekambaram, Kotak Mahindra Bank, says that India continues to remain attractive. “Given that Indian valuations are reasonable as of this point in time, I think we got some amount of share of money as far as the risk appetite is concerned. That caused July to be reasonably strong”, she told CNBC TV-18.

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Stock specific news:

•Axis Bank stock declined by 2.3 percent after its gross non-performing assets rose to 1.06 percent of gross advances for the June quarter, higher than 0.94 percent in the March quarter.

•Bajaj Finance hit a record high but pared gains and closed up 0.8 percent to Rs 973 after net profit jumped 53 percent to Rs139 crore on a 56 percent growth in total income to Rs 703 crore for the June quarter.

•Shares of pharma major Cadila Healthcare surged over 5% after the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) gave a clearance to the company’s facilities at Moraiya in Gujarat.

•Bajaj Finserv net profit jumps to Rs 195 crore from Rs 129 crore, stock closes up 0.87 percent to Rs 687 per share.