Broader markets outperform; FMCG, pharma shares weigh

Banks and auto shares gained while FMCG majors ITC and HUL along with pharma majors Cipla, Lupin and Sun Pharma ended lower

Benchmark share indices ended flat with negative bias on Monday as gains in banks failed to offset losses in defensive shares and select index heavyweights. Further, growing uncertainty after the US Fed last week decided to maintain status quo on interest rates citing global growth concerns also dampened sentiment.

Meanwhile, the near term derivative contracts for September are set to expire on Thursday, September 24.

The 30-share Sensex ended down 26 points at 26,193 after hitting a high/low of 26,233/25,973 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 5 points at 7,977 after touching a high/low of 7,988/7,908.

However, the broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices with BSE Mid-cap index up 0.4% and the Small-cap index gained 1.4%. Market breadth ended strong with 1,603 gainers and 1,032 losers on the BSE.

"Markets are in a stage of recovery after the global event last week while volatility  is seen ahead of the F&O expiry. Further, consensus points out to a 25 basis points rate cut by the RBI next week but it would not be easy. Moreover, uncertainty has increased after the US Federal Reserve delayed hike in interest rate," says Jayant Manglik, President - Retail Distribution, Religare Securities.

The Indian rupee was trading flat at Rs 65.65 to the US dollar.

Foreign investors were net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 643.5 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Power, Bankex and Capital Goods indices were among the top gainers while FMCG, Oil and Gas, Consumer Durables were the top losers.

Among the index heavyweights, Reliance Industries ended down 1.9% while mortage lender HDFC eased 0.2%.

FMCG major ITC ended down 1.3%. The company announced doubling its investment in Punjab from Rs 700 crore to Rs 1,400 crore. HUL ended 0.9% lower.

Pharma majors Lupin, Sun Pharma and Cipla ended down 0.6% each.

Bank shares were among the top gainers with Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank up 0.5-2% each.

Other gainers include, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp gained 1-2.6% each.

Among other shares, Prabhat Dairy which made its debut today hit a high/low of Rs 120/Rs 112.40 to end marginally higher at Rs 116.35 on the Bombay Stock Exchange compared to its offer price of Rs 115 per equity share.

Strides Aroclab ended up 4.6 after India’s largest drug maker, Sun Pharma sold the central nervous system (CNS) product business of erstwhile Ranbaxy to Strides Arcolab for an amount of Rs 165 crore.

Dish TV India ended 6.6% higher on reports suggesting that the Government is considering a proposal to hike foreign direct investment (FDI) limits to 100% in broadcasting carriage and content services, including direct-to-home (DTH) and cable networks in order to attract overseas investment and improve infrastructure.

L&T Finance Holdings ended down 2.6% on concerns of expansion in equity capital after the board approved issue of shares and convertible warrants to Bain Capital.

T D Power Systems ended up 8% after the company announced that it has received an order from a large multinational company in Europe.

IDFC gained 4.7% after the RBI gave nod to the Infrastructure finance firm to use Rs 2,500 crore non-distributable reserves for provisions against bad loans, as part of an exercise to clean its book before venturing into universal banking.