Mkts end flat: banks, cap goods down

Mumbai: The markets ended the day with modest loss amid volatile trade due to lack of triggers through the day.

Auto, banking, Capital goods, power and telecom stocks witnessed profit booking whereas FMCG, pharma and oil stocks continued positive momentum.

The Sensex was down 73.56 points or 0.37 per cent at 20030.83, and the Nifty down 10.40 points or 0.17% at 6047.70.

The BSE Midcap Index was up 1.02% at 9,471.94 and Small Cap up 1.57% at 12,195.50. Market breadth was positive. About 2178 shares have advanced, 873 shares declined, and 40 shares remained unchanged.

NSE and BSE cash turnover for the day stood at Rs 19,272 crore and Rs 9,429.4 crore. NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 61,326 crore and total at Rs 90,028 crore.

Top gainers on the bourses were ACC (3.58%), Ranbaxy Labs (2.69%), Cipla (2.65%), Hindustan Unilever (2.33%), GSK Pharma (5.17%) and Cairn India (3.2%) while losers were HDFC (3.43%), Bharti Airtel (3.43%), ICICI Bank (2.89%), Tata Motors (2.4%) and Satyam (2.36%).

Sun TV Network, Kaushalya Infrastructure, Kolte-Patil, Reliance Industries, JP Hydro and IFCI were most active shares on the bourses.

Banking stocks lost the ground today due to profit booking in Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Karnataka Bank, HDFC Bank and Union Bank of India. The BSE Bankex slipped 1.39% at 11,335.47.

Selling pressure was also seen in capital goods stocks as Areva T&D, Alfa Laval, BEML, Crompton Greaves and L&T ended lower. The BSE Capital Goods Index was down 0.99%, at 19,862.51.

The BSE Auto Index declined 0.38% at 5,743.80 due to fall in MRF, Bharat Forge, Tata Motors, Hindustan Motors and Cummins India.

Power stocks lost the ground on account of selling in Areva T&D, GVK Power, Torrent Power, Siemens and BHEL. The BSE Power Index dipped 0.76% at 4,435.53.

Profit booking was also seen in technology stocks in late trade. The BSE IT Index was down 0.57% at 4,259.76 on the back of drop in Satyam, Tech Mahindra, i-flex Solutions, Mphasis and Wipro.

The BSE Metal Index ended flat at 19,763. Metal stocks like SAIL, Tata Steel, Maharashtra Seamless and Jindal Stainless lost shine today.

Telecom stocks like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, MTNL, VSNL, Tata Teleservices and Idea Cellular witnessed selling pressure.

On the other hand, pharma stocks continued on buying spree since last two days. The BSE Healthcare Index gained 2.52% at 4,308.27 on the back of gain in Panacea Biotech, Lupin, Wockhardt, Cadila Healthcare, Matrix Labs, GSK Pharma and Glenmark Pharma.

FMCG stocks have also been in positive momentum since yesterday. The BSE FMCG Index gained 1.44% at 2,263.93 due to surge in P&G, Marico, Hindustan Unilever, United Breweries, Godrej Consumer and ITC.

The BSE Oil & Gas Index surged 0.88% at 12,980.95 as buying was seen in Reliance Industries, ONGC and Petronet LNG.