Markets continue to remain weak, financials weigh

Markets continued to remain weak in noon trades on Tuesday weighed down by profit taking in financials and index heavyweights.

At 1PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 52 points at 20,842 and the 50-share Nifty was down 11 points at 6,194.

Asian shares were mixed as investors turned cautious and booked profits at higher levels ahead of US jobs data later today. Shanghai COmposite was down 0.9% and Hang Seng slipped 0.3%. Nikkei up 0.1% and Straits Times gained 0.4%.

European shares were also trading flat with negative bias in early deals on Tuesday.

The rupee continued to trade weak due to month-end dollar demand from importers.

At 12:45PM, the rupee was trading at Rs 61.70 compared with previous close of Rs 61.52 per dollar. The rupee may weaken further during the day, said currency dealers. The broad range seen is between Rs 61.50 to 62.50 per dollar, they added.

BSE Oil and Gas was the top loser among the sectoral indices down 0.6% followed by COnsumer Durables, Auto, Realty, FMCG and Bankex indices.

Mortgage lender HDFC was the top Sensex loser down 2.1%. The company on Monday reported a 10.27% jump in its standalone post tax profit for the second quarter (Jul-Sep) at Rs 1,266.33 crore. It had posted a net profit of Rs 1,151.12 crore in the corresponding July-September quarter last year.Its net interest income grew 11% to Rs 1,814 crore. The growth was slower because of the dividend from its associate HDFC Bank coming in the first quarter itself, unlike the usual second quarter, its Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Keki Mistry said.

HDFC Bank was down 0.5% on profit taking.

Among the index heavyweights, Reliance Industries was down 0.7% amid profit taking after recent gains post its second quarter earnings. FMCG major ITC was down 1.2%

Other Sensex losers include, Hero MotoCorp, M&M and Cipla among others.

Among other shares, Wockhardt was down 2.2% at Rs 468 after medical regulator UK MHRA has decided to withdraw Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification for company's plant at Daman. This is the third plant to be hit by export restrictions this year.
Two weeks ago, GMP certification for Wockhardt's Chikaltahana plant was withdrawn by UK MHRA.