Markets end lower on profit booking, Sensex sheds 57 pts

Markets consolidated on Wednesday to end marginally lower, after rising over 3% in the previous two sessions, as investors booked profits ahead of the Oct-Dec earnings, on concerns that earnings would remain muted.

The Sensex ended at 15,883, lower by 57 points and the Nifty ended at 4,750, down 16 points. For the most part of the day the markets traded in a narrow range with a negative bias.

The Indian markets opened on a flat note but soon dipped into the red on back of selling pressure visible in the auto, realty and consumer durable stocks.

According to Salil Sharma, technical analyst, partner kapursharma.com, "The Nifty has been trading in a range of 4,531 – 4,800 since the past week. Now we are close to the upper end of the range and the 20-DMA of the Nifty is placed at 4,740. Having crossed that is a bullish sign."

Bajaj Auto was the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down 4.7% at Rs 1,426 after disappointing December sales compared to November. The stock touched its lowest level since August 28, 2011 on the National Stock Exchange.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, DLF, TCS, Jindal Steel, Reliance Industries, Tata Power, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, J P Associates and State Bank of India were also among the prominent losers, down 0.7-4.2% each.

Tata Motors, BHEL, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Wipro L&T and Cipla were among the gainers on the BSE benchmark index.

Auto stocks were amongst the worst hit in trades today. The BSE Auto index ended lower by 1.4% or 117 points at 8,084 levels.

Technology stocks also reeled under the selling pressure. The BSE teck index ended at 3,468, down 1%. Consumer durable, oil & gas, FMCG and realty stocks also witnessed a mild selling pressure.

From the Teck pack, HT Media was the top loser, down nearly 5% to Rs 118. Sun TV Network, Idea Cellular, RCom, GTL and Zee Entertainment were also among the prominent losers.

On the other hand, PSU stocks were on the buzzer today after market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) allowed companies to buy back their own equity from shareholders. The BSE PSU index index jumped 1.5% to 6,719. Capital Goods index also advanced 1% to 8,544. Power, banking, metal and healthcare stocks also witnessed a wee bit of buying.

MMTC was the top gainer among the PSU stocks, up nearly 18% to Rs 730. Hindustan Copper, STC, National Fertilisers, Rashtriya Chemicals, HMT, Dredging Corp, and Neyveli Lignite also surged 5-15% each.

Smart movers

Among other shares, shares of cement manufacturing companies like Ambuja Cements, ACC and UltraTech Cement were under pressure on the bourses today on concerns that the margins may come under pressure due to rise in input cost.

United Spirits zoomed 13% to Rs 578 on back of a four-fold increase in trading volume today. As many as 2.5 million shares have already changed hands, as against an average of around 700,000 shares traded daily in past two weeks.

Shares of Network18 Group companies –Network18 Media and Investments (Network18), TV18 Broadcast (TV18) – rallied 11% each in, extending their Tuesday’s 20% surge, as the proceeds of the proposed rights issues of both companies would render them debt free.

The broader markets ended on a flat note. The BSE mid-cap index jumped 9 points to 5,264 and the small-cap index has added 6 points to 5,691 levels.

The overall breadth was fairly positive as 1,499 stocks advanced while 1,198 stocks declined.