Markets pare gains as FMCG heavyweights slip

Weakness in FMCG majors ITC, HUL along with Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel weigh on the indices

Markets have given-up most of its morning gains and have turned flat with a negative bias. The ones weighing on the indices were FMCG majors ITC and HUL along with Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel.

At 1245 hrs, the Sensex was down nine points at 20,674 and the Nifty gave off 12 points to trade at 6,132.

In the broader markets, the midcap index was down 0.4% and the smallcap index dipped.2%, both underperforming the BSE benchmark index which was down 0.05%.

On the sectoral front, FMCG index was down 2% followed by Metal, Realty, Health Care, Teck, Power and PSU indices down 0.4-1.3%.

Meanwhile, Consumer Durables index edged higher by 2% along with Capital Goods and Oil & Gas indices  up 1% each.

Auto index too was up 0.4%.

Among the Sensex-30, the top gainers were L&T, RIL, HDFC, ONGC and Bajaj Auto up 1-2%.

Tata Power, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Gail India and Wipro up 0.2-1% were the other notable gainers.

On the losing side were ITC down 3% after reporting lower than expected revenue and net profit growth for the second quarter ended September 2013 (Q2).

Tata Steel, Sesa Sterlite, Coal India and Hindalco down 1-2% were the major losers.

Sun Pharma, Cipla, SBI, Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddys Lab, Mahindra & Mahindra and Jindal Steel down 0.2-0.8% were some of the other Sensex stocks in red.

The market breadth was negative. 1182 stocks declined while 921 stocks advanced on the BSE.

Global Markets

Asian stocks rose on Monday with Australia scaling a five-year peak after a record high finish on Wall Street helped offset worries about tighter credit in China, while investors gave the safe-haven yen a wide berth.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8%, recovering a chunk of last week's 1.1% loss -- the biggest in two months -- that was driven by concerns that China may tighten monetary policy to keep prices under control.

Japan's Nikkei climbed 2.2%, clawing back most of Friday's 2.7% drop.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng lagged, adding a modest 0.6%, and mainland Chinese stocks were flat, highlighting underlying concerns about China's attempts to cool consumer inflation and runaway property prices.