Markets take a breather; Sensex closes 100 points lower

Investors turned cautious today and booked profits owing to strong rally last week. The Sensex slid 100 points and the Nifty fell 34 points.

Major headlines

HUL hits 52-week high after good Q2 numbers

BPCL Q2 net loss at Rs3229.27 crore

Dabur Q2 net profit up by 10%

ICICI Bank Q2 net profit rises 22%

Maruti Suzuki declines after Q2 net profit decreases by 60%

Wipro Q2 consolidated net profit marginally up



Indian indices

It was a listless session, with the markets taking a breather after rallying sharply in the previous week. Lack of support from global front weighed on the sentiments. Profit booking in oil & gas, metal, auto, PSU, capital goods and consumer durables shares kept the markets lower. However, buying in technology, FMCG and banking stocks led some support.

Sensex movements: The Sensex opened the trade on a flat note, merely one point higher at 17806. Then the index slipped in the negative zone and remained lower in the morning session on profit booking and weak global cues. However in early afternoon session, the index touched the day’s high of 17813. But the gains were short-lived and the index fell again to hit the day’s low of 17668 in late trade. The Sensex closed 100 points lower at 17705 and the Nifty fell 34 points to settle at 5327.

Market sentiment:

The market breadth stood in favour of advances. Of the 2956 stocks traded on the BSE, 1494 (50.54%) rose, 1354 (45.81%) fell and 108 (3.65%) were unchanged.

Viewing volumes:

An integrated infrastructure development company — Lanco Infratech was traded the most with over 0.45 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that, India's second largest developer - Unitech (0.35 crore shares), India's largest automobile company – Tata Motors (0.24 crore shares), Industrial finance company – IFCI (0.24 crore shares) and Indian shipbuilder - Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company (0.23 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening:

Among the 13 sectoral indices, ten closed the in red. Gainers — BSE FMCG advanced by 1.04%. BSE Bankex rose by 0.72% and BSE TECk up by 0.10%. Major Losers — BSE Oil & Gas down by 2.09%, BSE Metal fell by 1.97% and BSE Auto declined by 0.98%.

In 'A' group stocks, top winners — Hindustan Unilever surged by 7.38%, Uco Bank rose by 5.99% Indian Bank advanced by 5.85%. On the flip side – Gitanjali Gems down by 5.28%, Oriental Bank of Commerce fell by 4.73% and Hindalco Industries declined by 4.11%.

Global Indices:

The European stock markets slipped on Monday (October 31, 2011), as banks gave up some of last week's strong gains, and with miners hurt by falling metal prices after Japan intervened to stem the yen's rise against the dollar.

The Asian stock markets ended lower on Monday, after Japanese authorities intervened to curb persistent yen strength, as investors locked in profits after impressive rally prior week.

The US Stock index futures pointed to a weaker open for equities on the Wall Street on Monday.

Market Outlook: In the US, Chicago PMI will be released on Monday.