Weakness persists dragged by oil and gas shares

Markets continued to trade lower in late noon deals after investors booked profits at higher levels post sharp gains in the past three trading sessions.

At 2:18PM the 30-share Sensex was down 92 points at 19,486 and the 50-share Nifty was down 34 points at 5,865.   

The Asian markets were trading mixed. Hang Seng was down 0.7% after starting the day up 1 percent as Hong Kong returned from a three-day holiday weekend. Meanwhile, Nikkei share average climbed 1.8% to finish above 14,000 for the first time in five weeks on Tuesday as blue-chip exporters gained on a weaker yen. Encouraging U.S. manufacturing and construction data also lifted investor sentiment. Shanghai Composite ended up 0.6% while Straits Times was up 1%.

European shares were trading marginally lower as investors booked profits at higher levels after recent gains. The FTSE-100, CAC-40 and DAX were down 0.3-0.8% each.

Realty Index was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE down 1.9% followed by Oil and Gas, Bankex, Auto and Capital Goods. Gainers include Consumer Durables and Healthcare indices.

Oil and Gas shares witnessed profit taking after they gain following the hike in natural gas price by the government to $8.4 mBtu from $4.2. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was down 1.3% and ONGC dipped 1.6%.

Infosys was down 1% on concerns over revenue guidance for the current fiscal. Infosys is expected to cut 2013-14 revenue guidance to 4-6% as wage hikes and higher costs are hitting its margins, offsetting the benefits of rupee depreciation, says a Morgan Stanley report.

Larsen & Toubro was down 1.1% on profit taking after recent gains. The company on Monday said its June order book touched Rs 3,057 crore across various business segments.

Tata Motors was down 1.4% after the company reported 18.08% decline in total vehicle sales at 52,708 units in June 2013. The company had sold 64,341 units in the same month last year, Tata Motors said in a statement.

Other Sensex losers include, HDFC Bank, ITC, SBI and HDFC.

Sensex gainers include, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and BHEL.

Among other shares, Lupin was up nearly 3.6% to Rs 805 in an otherwise weak market on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on overseas acquisition report.

Gitanjali Gems is locked in lower circuit for seven day in a row, down 5% at Rs 214 on BSE after the company said Macquarie has invoked nearly 5 million pledge shares of the company in past two trading sessions.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap was down 0.2% and the Small-cap index was trading flat with positive bias.

Market breadth was negative with 1,156 losers and 1,003 gainers on the BSE.