Listless trade ends flat; Sensex slips 10 points

Indian markets resumed the trading session on a positive note but could not sustain morning gains till the end. The Sensex fell by 10 points while the Nifty gained 2 points owing to selling pressure across the board. Headlines of the day: MCX gains over 5% as MCX-SX begins mock trading Gems & Jewellery shares jumps; Vaibhav Gems hits upper circuit City Union Bank hits 52-week high; stk gains over 4% Indian indices: The Indian markets closed today's trading session in the red zone. The selling pressure was witnessed in majority of the sectors except auto, consumer durables and healthcare which were the only gaining sector. Markets came under pressure in the afternoon trade owing to movements in heavyweights like Hindalco, Infosys, SBI, Bajaj Auto and RIL. The broader markets too ended the trade on a negative note. Further, weak opening of the European markets also weighed on market sentiments. At closing bell, the BSE Midcap index declined 0.76%, while the BSE Smallcap index was down by 0.88% in trade today. Movement of the Indian indices for the day: Indian equity benchmarks wiped out all of its morning gains and closed the session in the negative zone. Indian markets were trading higher throughout the day, but there was a sudden fall in the market in the afternoon trade owing to profit booking across the board. The market breadth stood extremely weak. The broader indices too remained in the red terrain. Weakness persisted in majority of the sectors and index heavyweights which resulted in the downfall. The Sensex closed at 18329.32, down by 9.68 points while the Nifty gained 1.85 points to close at 5573.25. Following are the stocks/ sectors which were in news today: 1. Financial Technologies (India) rose 2.70% and Multi Commodity Exchange of India gained 3.11% on BSE after the group's equity exchange entity MCX-SX conducted mock-testing of its trading platform. 2. Shares of companies engaged in gems and jewellery business continued with their upward trend and ended higher by 20% on the BSE on hopes of higher demand in coming months. Stocks like Vaibhav Gems, C Mahendra Exports, Shrenuj & Co, Thangamayil Jewellery, Tribuhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ), Shree Ganesh Jewellery House and Renaissance Jewellery traded higher today by 6-20% on the BSE. 3. Reliance Capital gained 0.01% as the company is in talks to sell 26% stake in general insurance arm. 4. City Union Bank gained 3.39% ahead of rights issue of equity shares. The private sector lender fixed November 23 as the record date for the purpose of rights issue. Market sentiment: The market breadth stood in favor of declines. Of the 2976 stocks traded on the BSE, 1051 (35.32%) rose, 1802 (60.55%) fell and 123 (4.13%) stocks remained unchanged. Sectoral & stock screening: Among the 13 sectoral indices, ten sectors closed in the red zone while remaining three sectors closed in the green zone. Top Gainers- BSE Auto up by 0.64%, BSE CD rose by 0.11%, BSE HC was up by 0.09%. Top Losers: BSE Realty was down by 3.02%, BSE Oil&Gas fell by 0.88%, BSE Metal declined by 0.73%. Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were- Apollo Hospitals rose by 4.56%, Gitanjali Gems up by 3.86% and Jet Airways surged by 3.61%. Top three losers were- Unitech declined by 5.89%, Reliance Communication was down by 5.23% and HDIL fell by 4.03%. Global signals: Asian markets were mixed on Tuesday as confidence that US politicians will agree a deal to avert a fiscal cliff was offset by profit-taking following a recent strong rally. European shares edged lower today, with France's CAC 40 index among the worst hit after ratings agency Moody's stripped the euro zone's No. 2 economy of its top credit rating. US stock index futures poised for a lower opening at the Wall Street on Tuesday.