Weakness persists weighed down by FMCG majors

Markets continued to remain weak in late morning trades on Monday after investors booked profits in FMCG majors Hindustan Unilever and ITC after sharp gains recently.

At 11:49AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 103 points at 19,649 and the 50-share Nifty was down 33 points at 5,853.   

The rupee today lost 15 paise to 59.19 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market due to month-end demand of the US currency from banks and importers, ahead of RBI's policy review tomorrow.

Asian markets continued to trade weak with Japan's Nikkei losing the most after the yen appreciated against the US dollar and investors remained cautious ahead of economic data from China due for release later this week.

The Nikkei was down 2.8%, Shanghai Composite fell 1.9%, Hang Seng gained 0.6% and Straits Times was trading 0.2% lower.

In the domestic market, BSE FMCG index was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE down 2.6% followed by Bankex, Oil and Gas, Consumer Durables and Capital Goods indices.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever was the top Sensex loser down 5.1% at Rs 630 while ITC was down 2.3% at Rs 360. Both stocks had surged over 20% in the past one month.

Other Sensex losers include, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, SBI and Maruti Suzuki.

Wipro was the top Sensex gainer up 6.7% at Rs 408 on the management's better-than-expected US dollar revenue guidance of US$ 1,620 million to 1,650 million for the second quarter ending September 30, 2013 (Q2 FY2014).

Other Sensex gainers include Tata Motors, Infosys, HDFC and TCS.

Among other shares, Natco Pharma is locked in 20% upper circuit at Rs 590, also its record high on NSE, after the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in the company's favour by allowing it to launch a similar version of Copaxone through its marketing partner Mylan Inc during May 2014.

Jet Airways (India) has soared 6.8% to Rs 422, extending its Friday’s 18% rally, on the hope that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will approve its proposed stake sale to Etihad Airways as the company has made "major" changes in their revised shareholder agreement to comply with FDI policy norms.

SpiceJet has soared 10% to Rs 27.65 on reports that on reports that the company is in advanced negotiations for a stake sale to a foreign airline.

BGR Energy Systems has tanked 11% to Rs 93.40 on back of heavy volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange.The stock opened at Rs 104 and touched a record low of Rs 91 on BSE. The company informed the stock exchanges regarding the sudden and sad demise of Mr. B. G. Raghupathy, founder, chairman and managing director of the company on July 28, 2013.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was down 1% and Small-cap index was down 0.6%.

Market breadth remained weak with 1,074 losers and 738 gainers on the BSE.