The markets continued to trade marginally lower in afternoon trades with BSE Sensex at 16,722, down 16 points and the Nifty at 5,039, down 10 points.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries has plunged 3% on reporting disappointing numbers in the quarter ended December 2011. However, the buyback offer limited the downslide. The company is going to buyback of Rs 10,440 crore worth of shares at up to Rs 870 a share.
In Asia, the Nikkei is trading flat with a negative bias at 8,766, cutting short a four-day winning streak after Greece and its creditors failed to reach a deal over the weekend to avoid a default.
On the sectoral front, BSE FMCG index has advanced nearly 1%. From the pack, Colgate-Palmolive (India) has rallied 6% to Rs 1,013 after reporting a 74% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in net profit at Rs 116 crore for the third quarter ended December 2011 on the back of strong volume growth. Net sales grew 20% at Rs 670 crore on y-o-y basis. “The company achieved 20% growth over the same quarter previous year, led by a strong 15% volume growth in the toothpaste category,” the personal care products maker said in a filing to the stock exchanges.
Meanwhile, BSE Oil & Gas, Metal and Capital Goods indices have plunged between 1-2%.
From the Capital Goods space, L&T has tumbled by over 3% ahead of its Q3FY12 numbers to be announced today.
Among the Sensex 30 stocks, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, Cipla, ICICI Bank and BHEL, up 1-3% each, are the prominent gainers. The losers from the pack are Sterlite Industries, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco Industries, Larsen & Toubro and RIL, down 3-4% each.
Among individual stocks, Jet Airways has risen 4% to Rs 240 after it reported lower losses at Rs 363 crore for the third quarter ended December 2011, compared to a loss of Rs 449 crore in the preceding quarter (Jul-Sep), as the airlines benefited from sale and leaseback of planes, a property deal and foreign-exchange gains. The private carrier had posted a net profit of Rs 118 crore for the same quarter of previous fiscal. Revenue rose 13% to Rs 3,939 crore on year-on-year basis.
Mahindra Forgings has soared 18% to Rs 64.55 after reporting a consolidated net profit of Rs 16 crore for the quarter ended December 2011 on the back of forex gains on account of the Euro –Rupee exchange rates. The company had reported a net loss of Rs 4 crore in the year ago quarter.
The overall market breadth is positive as 1,348 stocks have advanced against 1,197 declining ones, on the BSE.