Indian markets end with modest gains ahead of US elections

The Indian markets chose to remain subdued on the back global cues ahead of the US Presidential elections. The Sensex and the Nifty rose 7 points each in trade today. Headlines of the day: Reliance Power Q2 consolidated net profit up by 2% Crompton Greaves hits monthly low post Q2 nos CEAT bursts post Q2 nos; stk hits monthly low India's service sector growth for October hits 6 mth low Indian Indices: After witnessing a strong rally in previous trading session, the Indian markets rang the opening bell on a flat note tracking weak global cues. Today was a listless session as the markets kept swinging between gains and losses. The equities remained highly volatile throughout the day and closed today's trading session in the green zone. Markets ended flat on the first day of the week with no major action on the D street. The Sensex and the Nifty rose 7 points each in today's trade. Movement of the Indian indices for the day: The markets started the first trading session of the week in the green zone. It was a complete dull session for the Indian equity benchmarks due to lack of local and global cues. The key indices kept oscillating on both sides of the equator. The Indian markets were trading on a flat note since morning on the back of subdued global cues ahead of the US Presidential elections which is scheduled to be held tomorrow (November 06, 2012). The sectors like FMCG, HC, CD and Bankex led some support to the market, while others added pressure. The major heavyweight gainers were - ITC, HDFC Bank, Dr. Reddy, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC and Cipla. The Indian equity benchmarks continued to struggle for direction throughout the day. The broader markets ended with a negative bias where the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices declined 0.1% and 0.2% each. Adding further, the local currency witnessed sharp fall in the rupee that declined by 1.44% or 77 paise to 54.585 against the US dollar due to rise in dollar demand by oil companies. Overall, today's trading session remained lacklustre with the BSE Sensex closing flat to positive. Investors remained cautious ahead US elections. The Sensex closed at 18,762.87 up by 7.42 points while the Nifty rose by 6.50 points to close at 5704.20. Following are the stocks/ sectors which were in news today: 1. Allahabad Bank dropped 2.50%, after reporting 52% year-on-year fall in net profit at Rs234 crore for the second quarter ended September 2012. 2. Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) gained 1.81%, after the board declared an interim dividend of Rs12 per equity share (120%) of face value Rs10 each for the current financial year 2012-13. 3. Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) slipped 4.94%, after reporting a lower than expected 25% year-on-year (yoy) jump in consolidated net profit at Rs159 crore for the quarter ended September 2012. 4. Crompton Greaves tumbled 8.35% after reporting 64% year-on-year (yoy) fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs42 crore in the September 2012 quarter. Market sentiment: The market breadth stood in favor of declines. Of the 2984 stocks traded on the BSE, 1356 (45.44%) rose, 1496 (50.13%) fell and 132 (4.42%) stocks remained unchanged. Sectoral & stock screening: Among the 13 sectoral indices, four sectors closed in the green zone while remaining nine sectors closed in the red zone. Top Gainers: BSE FMCG up by 1.08%, BSE HC gained 0.37%, BSE CD rose by 0.11%. Top Losers: BSE Power down by 0.52%, BSE Metal and BSE Auto down by 0.48% each. Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were- Jet Airways surged by 4.19%, Marico rose by 3.18% and United Spirits up by 2.98%. Top three losers were- Crompton Greaves fell by 8.35%, Godrej Consumers was down by 4.94% and Andhra Bank declined by 4.15%. Global signals: Asian stocks fell on Monday, mirroring Friday's drop at the Wall Street, with investors turning cautious ahead of key political events in the US and China this week, the result of which could define a clear direction for broader markets. The political uncertainty in the world's largest economy made investors wary of holdings riskier assets, and their safe-haven bids buoyed the U.S. dollar to two-month highs against a basket of major currencies. The euro was weighed down by a survey showing euro zone October manufacturing shrank for the 15th straight month, as well as renewed uncertainty over Greece, which is set to vote on another package this week that could pave the way for the European Union to approve the next bailout tranche. Wall Street is poised for a flat opening, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures unchanged.