Markets end lower as global markets falter

Markets closed the session on a weak note mirroring losses in the global peers as investors remained wary of China’s economic slowdown coupled with fears of an interest rate hike by the US fed.

Caution prevailed on the bourses ahead of the quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) data due to be released post market hours today.

Provisionally, the Sensex closed 83 points lower at 26,309 and the Nifty ended 31 points lower at 7,971.

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(2:20 PM)

Benchmark share indices pared early gains and were trading lower in late noon trades on Monday as investors booked profits in index heavyweights on caution ahead of the first quarter GDP numbers to be released later today.

At 2:20PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 129 points at 29,263 and the 50-share Nifty was down 36 points at 7,966.

The Indian rupee continued to trade weak against the US dollar down 23 paise at 66.38 compared to its Friday close amid demand for the US currency from importers.

Further, foreign institutional investors turned buyers after net equity purchases of Rs 56 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Major Asian stock markets ended lower with the Nikkei ended down 1.3% while Shanghai Composite ended 0.8% lower and Straits Times eased 0.75%. However, Hong Kong's benchmark index Hang Seng eded up 0.3%.

European shares were trading mixed with shares in France and Germany trading over 1% lower while FTSE-100 was trading 0.9% higher.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Power, Realty, Capital Goods, Auto and IT were among the top sectoral losers on the BSE.

Among the index heavyweights, Reliance Industries and Infosys were down over 1.2% each.

Select financials also witnessed profit taking after gains in the previous session. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and HDFC were down 0.5-1% each.

Bharti Airtel was down 2.5% while Idea Cellular is marginally up. Both the telecom majors have hiked charges for their post-paid users by around 20% in various circles including the national capital.

Export-led pharma majors were among the top gainers on expectations that the weakness in the rupee would help boost revenues. Lupin, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs and Cipla were up 1-2% each.

ONGC was up 0.7%. Reports suggest that the state-owned oil explorer and its partners plans to invest about $24 billion in producing natural gas from a giant field off Mozambique and converting it into liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export to consumers like India. Among other stocks, GAIL was up 3%.

Among others, shares of Himatsingka Seide has moved higher by 6% to Rs 191 on the BSE after the company announced that its board approved an investment of Rs 1,281 crore to expand the Group’s manufacturing facilities at Hassan.