Nifty below 6,300 on profit booking

ITC, L&T, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank weigh on the indices

Markets slipped into the red in noon deals as profit booking in heavyweights like ITC, L&T, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank weighed on the indices.

This come in the wake of news that India's manufacturing sector ended the year 2013 on a bit of pessimistic note as growth fell in December against the previous month, showed the widely-tracked HSBC purchasing managers' index (PMI). However, consumer segment of the manufacturing, which had faced the heat of slow down, showed some signs of uptick.

The PMI was down at 50.7 points in December from 51.3 in the previous month. This is the second month in a row when manufacturing activities registered a growth after falling since August. A reading above 50 points shows a growth, while the one below is a contraction.

At 1415 hrs, the Sensex was down 180 points at 20,961 and the Nifty gave off 58 points to trade at 6,244.

Broader markets too were not spared with the mid and smallcap indices down 0.8% almost in line with the benchmark indices.

Rupee

The rupee is off its highs as a large petrochemical company bought dollars, dealers say.The pair is 61.93/94 versus Wednesday's close of 61.90/91 after dropping to 61.7450.

The pair is still trading below the 100-day moving average.

Sectors and Stocks

Barring IT index which was up 0.1%, all the others ectoral indices were in the red.

Capital Goods index down 2% followed by Realty, Power, Oil & Gas and FMCG index down 1% each were the major sectoral losers.

Maruti Suzuki up 1.4%, Tata Steel, HDFC, TCS, Hindalco, Infosys and SBI up 0.2-0.9% were the gainers among Sensex-30.

Bharti Airtel, L&T, BHEL, NTPC, Tata Power and Coal India down 2% each were the major losers.

FMCG heavyweights, Hindustan Unilever and ITC were down 1.5% each.

Oil & Gas majors, ONGC, RIL and Gail India gave off 0.1-1.3%.

From the auto space, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Mahindra & Mahindra gave off 0.5-1%.

ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank down 1.2% and 0.5% were the other major losers.

The market breadth was negative on the BSE. 1,310 stocks declined while 1,201 stocks advanced.

Asian Markets

Asian share markets endured mixed fortunes on Monday in the wake of disappointing data on Chinese manufacturing, while investors showed renewed appetite for commodities as the new year got underway.

Japan's Nikkei was closed on Thursday but ended 2013 with an annual gain of 57%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5% on Thursday.

The relentless drop in the yen has also been eroding the competitiveness of Japan's Asian neighbours, one reason Korean shares skidded 1.5% on Thursday.

Not helping was a drop in China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) to 51.0 in December, from 51.4 the previous month and below forecasts for 51.2.