Sensex down 100 points, banks fall; broader markets outperform

Benchmark indices continue to trade in a tight range with negative bias weighed down by financials and FMCG shares.

Growth in India's factory activity slipped in January from December's two-year high as new orders rose at a weaker rate despite factories keeping price increases to a minimum, a business survey showed on Monday.

By 10:30, the Sensex was lower by 114 points at 29,069 mark and the Nifty slipped by 31 points at 8,778.

However, broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and the Smallcap indices are up nearly 1% each.

Market breadth in BSE is positive with 1,234 shares advancing and 704 shares declining.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 771.55 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

The Indian rupee opened lower by 13 paise at 61.99 per dollar versus Friday's closing value of 61.86 a dollar.

Among global peers, Asian shares languished on Monday, after the latest gauge of China's factory sector activity raised concerns about the world's second-largest economy.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down about 0.1%, while Japan's Nikkei stock average dropped 0.6%. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.2%.

The final HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for January came in at 49.7 on a seasonally adjusted basis, just below the 50.0 level that separates growth from contraction. The figure released on Monday was slightly lower than a preliminary "flash" reading of 49.8.

Back home, BSE Bankex and BSE FMCG index have slipped by almost 1% each. However, sectors like Consumer Durables, IT, Capital Goods and Healthcare have gained by nearly 1% each.

Financial shares are in focus ahead of the RBI monetary policy due tomorrow. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC and SBI have plunged between 0.3-2%.

ICICI bank has extended Friday’s losses and are trading lower by 2% after the bank said that its net non performing assets (NPA) for the quarter ended December 2014 (Q3) stood at 1.27% against 1.09% in September quarter.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has extended losses after Credit Suisse downgraded teh stock to "neutral" from "outperform". The stock has slipped by over 2%.

Shares of Bajaj Auto are trading 2% lower at Rs 2,344 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the company reported 9% year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in total sales at 288,746 units in January 2015 as compared to 318,171 units in January 2014.

Coal India has plunged nearly 3% after the government raised Rs 22,557.63 crore from the sale of its 10 per cent shareholding in Coal India.

Other notable losers are HUL, Bharti Airtel, ITC, NTPC and Infosys.

On the gaining side, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Ranbaxy Laboratories have touched their respective record highs on the bourses after the Sun Pharma received US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) clearance for Ranbaxy's acquisition.

Shares of Sun Pharma are up 2.9% at Rs 935 on the NSE. The stock hit a record high of Rs 944 so far. Ranbaxy Laboratories, on the other hand, has rallied nearly 4% at Rs 729, also its new high on NSE.

Other notable gainers are Hindalco, Wipro, L&T, M&M and Maruti Suzuki.

Among other shares, aviation companies – Jet Airways (India) and SpiceJet have gained up to 4% in today’s trade on the BSE after Jet fuel prices have been cut by a steep 11.3% on Sunday bringing further relief to domestic airlines.

Shares of Gujarat-based Torrent Pharma are trading up 1% at Rs 1,112.45 on the BSE following US Federal Trade Commission (USFTC) order in the Sun Pharma-Ranbaxy merger.