Markets trading tad lower; HUL down 3%

Markets were trading tad lower weighed down by profit taking in HUL post its September quarter earnings

Markets pared early gains and were trading with marginal losses in late deals on Monday weighed down by profit taking in FMCG major Hindustan Unilever post its second quarter earnings.  

At 2:30PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 46 points at 26,805 and the 50-share Nifty was down 11 points at 8,004.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs

The Indian rupee also trimmed most of its early gains and was trading at Rs 61.28 compared to its Wednesday's close of Rs 61.31 to the US dollar.

Asian shares were trading mostly lower with the exception of Japan. Japanese shares ended 0.6% higher on Monday amid encouraging US economic data and weakness in the yen. However, investors remained cautious ahead of the two-day US Fed meet. Meanwhile, shares in China and Hong Kong witnessed profit taking with both the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng down 0.5-0.6% each whille Straits Times was down 0.1%.

European shares edged higher led by banks after the European Central Bank's tests proved that the financial health of most of the euro zone banks were better-than-expected. The CAC-40, DAX and FTSE-100 were up 0.4-0.6% each.

The BSE Bankex, Capital Goods, Consumer Durables and Power indices were among the top sectoral gainers up 0.5-1.4% each. Realty, Auto, FMCG, IT, Oil and Gas indices were down 0.5-3.6% each.

Financials were among the top Sensex gainers with HDFC, HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank up between 0.5-1% each.

Capital goods majors L&T and BHEL have surged between 1-4% after a government panel on Saturday cleared defence projects worth Rs 50,000 crore.

GAIL has gained around 1.5% on reports that it will be appointed as the operator of the proposed pool of domestic and international gas prices. However, ONGC which gained recently on the back of  gas price hike and de-regulation of diesel prices announced by the government has lost over 1% today.

Meanwhile, Reliance Industries and ONGC which had gained last week post the gas price hike and de-regulation of diesel prices were down 1% each.

Auto stocks which surged recently on the back of robust festival sales witnessed profit taking at higher levels. Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto and M&M are down between 0.2-2% each.

FMCG major HUL was down 3%. The company reported marginal rise in net profit to Rs 988 crore for the quarter ended September compared to Rs 914 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income was higher at Rs 7,639 crore compared with Rs 6,893 crore in the same quarter last year. Volume growth was lower at 5% compared to 6% in the previous quarter.

Exporter stocks such as IT and pharma remained subdued on the back of a stronger rupee. Wipro, Infosys, Sun Pharma and Cipla slipped between 0.3-1%.

Among other shares, Tata Sponge Iron has dipped 4% to Rs 741 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after Morgan Stanley sold nearly two percentage points take Tata Group Company through open market transactions.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap was down 0.6% and Small-cap indices was trading flat.

Market breadth was weak with 1,488 losers and 1,217 gainers on the BSE.