Weakness persists; heavyweights weigh

Losses in JSPL, TCS, ITC, BHEL and Infosys, down between 1-3% weighed on the indices

Markets continued to trade in the negative territory weighed down by profit booking in IT and financial heavyweights. At 1300 hrs, the Sensex was 63 points at 20,819 and the Nifty was up 11 points at 6,178.

In the broader markets, the smallcap index was up 0.9% and the midcap index advanced 0.7%, both outperforming the BSE benchmark index, which was down 0.3%.

The rupee weakened in afternoon trades due to dollar demand by importers.

At 12:30 pm the rupee was trading at Rs 61.47 compared with previous close of Rs 61.27 per dollar.

Global Markets

Asian markets too edged higher, taking cues from the US S&P 500's record high as investors bet the Federal Reserve will not start winding back its cheap money policies until next year. The change in expectations followed a 16-day shutdown of the US government that could cloud the economic outlook and make the Fed wary of scaling back its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying programme this year as many had expected. This kept the dollar on the defensive.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.1% to a five-month high.

Tokyo's Nikkei climbed 1% to a three-week high. It is up 41% this year and its 30-day implied volatility has risen sharply above that in the United States and Europe, Datastream figures showed.

Sectors & Stocks

On the sectoral front, It index , down 2% was the top loser followed by Teck and FMCG indices losing 1% each. Oil & Gas, Health Care and Consumer Durables indices too were in the red, down 0.1-0.6%.

The main gainers on the Sensex at this hour include L&T, Sesa Sterlite, Maruti Suzuki, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and NTPC.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is trading higher by 4% at Rs 906, extending its Friday’s over 4% rally, after construction and engineering giant has reported a good set of numbers for the quarter ended September 2013 (Q2).

Hindalco Industries has gained by 3% after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office says he is satisfied with the outcome of the process of allocating coal blocks to certain companies, dealers say.

Metal shares continue at their upward march with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) metal index has rallied nearly 5% in past two trading sessions after China’s economy grew at its fastest pace this year for the quarter ended September. China is the world's largest consumer of copper and aluminium.

Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel, Steel Authority of India and JSW Steel are up 1-4% on the BSE.

On the losing side, JSPL, TCS, ITC, BHEL and Infosys have declined between 1-3%.

Shares of Adani Group companies such as Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Adani Port and SEZ are in demand and rallied up to 15% on back of heavy volumes on the bourses.

Adani Enterprises was the largest gainer among the pack, zoomed 15.4% to Rs 202 on the BSE. A combined 6.2 million shares already changed hands on the counter till mid-noon deals against an average sub one million shares that were traded daily in past two weeks on BSE and NSE.

The market breadth was positive on the BSE. 1209 stocks advanced while 899 stocks declined.