Sensex ends 119 points lower

IT and bank shares were among the top losers in late noon trades

Markets ended lower amid profit taking in late trades with bank and information technology shares leading the decline.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended down 119 points at 25,960 and the Nifty50 ended down 33 points at 7,896.
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(Updated at 2:30pm)

Benchmark share indices were trading lower in late noon trades weighed down by bank and information technology shares. Further, traders remained cautious ahead of the expiry of December F&O contracts.

At 2:30 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 51 points at 26,029 and Nifty50 was down 11 points at 7,918.

However, the broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices up 0.3% each. Market breadth was strong with 1,391 gainers and 1115 losers on the BSE.

The rupee was trading marginally lower at 66.43 to the US dollar compared to its previous close of 66.39 on month-end demand from importers.

GLOBAL MARKETS

European shares were trading lower with mining and energy shares among the losers because of weak commodity and crude oil prices. The CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were down 0.6%-0.8% each.  

Asian shares ended mixed on Wednesday after Japan and China's benchmark share indices  ended with marginal gains. The Nikkei and Shanghai Composite each ended nearly 0.3% higher. Among other major markets in the region, Straits Times and Hang Seng were down 0.2%-0.5% each.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE IT, Bankex, Auto, Oil and Gas indices were the top losers while BSE Power, Metal and FMCG indices were the top gainers.

Bank shares were among the top losers. ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were down 0.3%-1.6% each.

IT majors also witnessed profit taking with Infosys, TCS down 0.7%-0.9% each.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was down 0.7%.

Dr Reddy’s Lab was trading 1.2% higher as it re-launched its generic version of Nexium in the US.

Bharti Airtel has acquired 74% stake in Augere Wireless, which holds 4G spectrum in Madhya Pradesh, but did not disclose financial details of the deal. Shares of Bharti Airtel was up 0.4%.

Mortgage lender HDFC was marginally up after Standard Life received approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to increase its stake in HDFC Life Insurance by 9% to 35%.

HDFC Bank was down 0.3%. The bank reduced its base rate, or minimum lending rate, by five basis points (bps) to 9.3%, making it at par with that of State Bank of India.

Among the key mid-cap and small-cap gainers, Adani Power, Biocon, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Alstom T&D India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Tata Global Beverages are up between 2%-4%.