Markets end flat

Capital goods stocks amongs the worst hit

Markets ended today's volatile session on a flat note. The Sensex provisionally ended higher by 13 points at 18,638 and the 50-share Nifty closed higher by 1 point at 5,665.
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(Updated at 1440 hours)

Markets are trading on a weak note in the late noon deals on the back of selling pressure visible in the capital goods, banking and IT stocks. Weak European cues have also added to the weakness in the India markets. The Sensex is down 43 points at 18,582 and the 50-share Nifty is down 14 points at 5,649.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets eased today as investors switched their focus away from solid US economic growth in the third quarter to the weak state of global corporate earnings.

But activity everywhere was expected to be thin as a massive hurricane closed in on the U.S. East Coast causing regulators to close stock and options trading on Wall Street.

The Hang Seng slipped 34 points to end at 31,511, Shanghai Composite fell 7 points to 2,059, Nikkei ended weaker by 4 points at 2,058 and the Starits Times slipped 23 points to 3,034.

The European shares fell on Monday as uncertainty over any rescue deal for Spain and worries over weak results from the region's top companies pushed stock markets lower.

Volumes were expected to be subdued, with the US stock and options markets shut due to Hurricane Sandy. FTSE, DAX and CAC 40 indices were down 0.4-0.8% each.

Back home, capital goods stocks are amongst the worst hit in trades today after the sectoral heavyweight BHEL dipped 6% to Rs 228 on reporting a lower-than-expected net profit of Rs 1,274 crore as compared to analyst estimates of around Rs 1,418 crore for the second quarter ended September 2012 (Q2).

Net sales also grew marginally at Rs 10,400 crore from Rs 10,299 crore during the recently quarter. Analysts on an average had forecast net sales at Rs 11,464 crore from the state-owned capital goods company.

Other income has more than halved at Rs 131 crore in September quarter from Rs 317 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous year.

Tata Motors, Sterlite Industries, HUL, Coal India, ICICI Bank, NTPC, TCS, GAIL India, Larsen & Toubro, SBI, Infosys and HDFC are also among the losers, down 0.3-2.3% each.

On the other hand, Wipro is the top Sensex gainer. The stocks has advanced 2.5% to Rs 344 after Credit Suisse upgraded stock to 'outperform' from 'neutral' and raised target price to Rs 415 from Rs 385.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries is also trading higher by 1.5% at Rs 811 as new Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily today promised expeditious decision-making and said India should look at tripling oil consumption to boost economic growth.

After a bullish opening, shares of the energy major further gained 1.9% to Rs 814.20 on the BSE.

Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindalco, Cipla, Bharti Airtel, Jindal Steel, ITC and HDFC Bank are also among the gainers.

On the sectoral front, BSE capital goods index is the top loser, down 1.5% at 11,154. realty, power, PSU, FMCG, IT, bankex, metal, and auto indices are also down 0.2-1% each. While, oil & gas, healthcare and consumer durable indices are among the notable gainers.

The mid-cap and small-cap indices are under performing the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-capp and small-cap indices are down 0.5% each compared to 0.2% fall in the Sensex.