Profit booking, global cues drag Nifty below 5700

The Indian markets were knocked down in today’s trade, after witnessing a sharp fall in afternoon trade. The Sensex declined 83 points and the Nifty ended 26 points lower. Major Headlines of the day: Lupin Q2 FY2013 profits better than expected Yes Bank Q2 net profit jumps 30% L&T Finance Holdings zooms in dull market Indian indices: The Indian markets remained listless and closed today's volatile session in the red zone. Profit booking was seen in majority of the sectors except Capital Goods, which was the only gaining sector. Lack of support from global peers led to a lackluster trade. Heavyweights like ITC, Infy, RIL, HDFC Bank, ONGC, TCS and Jindal Steel led the markets to remain under pressure. The broader market too ended trade on a negative note. At the end of the day, the BSE Midcap index declined 0.23%, while the BSE Smallcap index was down by 0.25% Movement of the Indian indices for the day: The Indian markets closed today's trade on a negative note. Though the markets opened second trading session of the week on a positive note but failed to maintain the initial gains. Persistent selling pressure in majority of the sectors and profit booking in index heavyweights weighed on the market sentiment which led the market to float in the red zone. The markets remained under pressure throughout the day and fell sharply during the afternoon session. Having a clear view, Tuesday turned out to be the second consecutive drop for the Indian equities. A weak trend across Asian and European markets also dampened the sentiments on Indian bourses. The broader indices too reversed their morning gains and underperformed their large-Cap peers, dragging the market breadth towards negative zone. Volatility is expected a day ahead of expiry of October derivatives contracts on Thursday (October 25, 2012), with Wednesday being a public holiday. Markets will remain closed tomorrow (October 24, 2012) on account of 'Vijaya Dashmi' The Sensex and the Nifty dipped nearly 0.4% each. All-round selling across the board also led the equities to trade with heavy losses. The Sensex closed at 18710.02, down by 83.42 points and the Nifty fell 25.75 points to close at 5691.40. Following are the stocks/ sectors which were in news today: 1. Pioneer Distilleries locked 5% lower circuit at Rs45.65 for the second day in a row after United Spirits, the promoter of the company fixed a floor price of Rs38 per equity share for the sale shares, a well below the current market price. 2. L&T Finance Holdings (LTFH) surged over 3% after the company announced 100% acquisition of FamilyCredit Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of France’s Société Générale Consumer Finance for Rs120 crore. 3. Yes Bank gained over 3% after reporting 30% yoy growth in net profit at Rs306 crore in the September quarter on back of higher interest income. Market sentiment: The market breadth stood in favor of declines. Of the 2944 stocks traded on the BSE, 1308 (44.43%) rose, 1490 (50.61%) fell and 146 (4.96%) stocks remained unchanged. Sectoral & stock screening: All the 13 sectoral indices closed on a negative note, baring BSE CG which was the only gaining sector to rise by 0.90%. Top Losers- BSE CD fell by 0.98%, BSE IT down by 0.88% and BSE Metal declined by 0.84%. Remaining eight indices fell in the range of 0.06-0.84%. Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were- L&T Finance surged by 3.24%, Bayer Crop rose by 3.23% and Hindustan Copper up by 3.22%. Top three losers were- JP Power fell by 3.73%, GMR Infra down by 3.64% and Suzlon Energy declined by 3.43%. Global signals: Asian stock markets mostly declined on Tuesday as concerns over the weak corporate earnings continued to weigh on the sentiment. Japan's Nikkei share average edged up to mark its seventh straight day of gains, its longest winning streak since July 2011, after an increasingly soft yen continued to fuel exporters' gains. European stocks fell broadly on Tuesday as third quarter results presented a mixed picture, hitting a one-week low that analysts said might encourage some investors back into the market. U.S. stock index futures poised for a lower opening at the Wall Street on Tuesday.