Markets turn flat; IT majors gain

Markets turned flat in noon deals and continued to trade with a negative bias as weakness in heavyweights like L&T, HUL, M&M, Sun Pharma capped gains in IT heavyweights.

At 1440 hrs, the Sensex was up 13 points at 20,712 and the Nifty gave off 11 points to trade at 6,153.

In the broader market were in the red with the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices down 0.2-0.3% each.

Global Markets

A stronger yen depressed Japanese stocks on Friday, while the dollar was hemmed in near a two-year low against the euro by expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue its monetary stimulus well into 2014.

Those expectations were tempered, however, by continued worries over tighter cash markets in China, leading to a lopsided and selective rally in Asian markets.

The Nikkei share average dropped 2%.

Meanwhile, the KOSPI index was down 0.8% even after Samsung Electronics Co Ltd , the index's largest component, said its quarterly operating profit surged 26% to a new record.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.35%, reversing earlier slight gains. The index fell 0.1% on Thursday as rising Chinese money market rates countered signs of a pick-up in manufacturing.

Shanghai shares hit their lowest levels in a month, while Tokyo's stock market was set to suffer its first weekly drop in three weeks.

European markets - CAC, DAX and FTSE fell 0.1-0.3%, as the region's equity indexes pause for breath after hitting fresh highs this week.

Sectors & Stocks

Realty index was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE down nearly 1.5% followed by Capital Goods, Metal, Healthcare, Consumer Durables and Auto indices all down 0.5-1% each.

Meanwhile, the IT and Teck indices gained 1% each.

Engineering major L&T was down 1.6% on profit taking after recent gains while BHEL was down 1.4% at Rs 138 together contributing the most to the Sensex decline.

Sun Pharma slipped 1.4% at Rs 612 retreating from Rs 638 levels on account of profit taking.

Hindustan Unilever, M&M, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Hindalco, down 1-4% were the other notable Sensex losers.

IT majors Infosys, TCS and Wipro were among the top Sensex gainers, up between 0.6-2.5% amid a weakening rupee and buying at lower levels after the recent correction.

Other Sensex gainers include ITC up 0.9% ahead of its second quarter earnings later today.

ICICI Bank was up 0.5% after the bank beat street estimates reporting net interest income of Rs 4,043 crore. Net profit stood at Rs 2,352 crore.

HDFC Bank and SBI up 0.7% each were the other gainers from the banking space.

In individual stocks, Dabur India was trading higher by 4% at Rs 183, also its record high on BSE, ahead of its second quarter earnings on Monday.

Centum Electronics was locked in upper circuit for second day in a row, up 10% at Rs 119 on BSE, after reporting consolidated net profit of Rs 10.03 crore for the quarter ended September 2013 on back of strong revenue growth.

The market breadth was negative on the BSE. 1,349 stocks declined while 977 stocks advanced.