Lacklustre trades continue

Metal, oil & gas shares slump

Markets continued to languish in morning trades with the Sensex slipping nearly 70 points at 18,723. Nifty was down 15 points at 5,703.

Meanwhile, the broader markets outperformed the Sensex. BSE midcap index was up 0.2% at 6718. Small-cap index is down 0.4% at 7,222.

BSE Capital goods index shed 0.6% to 11,123, followed by power, metal and oil & gas indices. However, buying interest was visible in the consumer durables space and healthcare and IT sectors.

Dr Reddy's is up 1% at Rs 1,712. Wipro and Infosts from the IT space are up around half a per cent each. Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank have advnaced in trades.

On the other hand Mahindra & Mahindra has shed 1.2% followed by Tata Power and Bharti Airtel.

ITC and TCS traded flat ahead of their results today.

Two days after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed the charge sheet in a graft case related to the multi-crore mining scam, JSW Steel Limited denied entering into criminal conspiracy with other accused causing Rs 890 crore loss to the state exchequer. The stock was down 1.3% at Rs 412.

From individual stocks,Tata group firm Indian Hotels Company will make an offer to acquire US-based Orient Express Hotels, which owns a chain of luxury hotels in US and Europe. Shares of Indian Hotels have slumped 5% to Rs 66.75.

MTNL has slipped 1% after the state-owned telecom firm, along with BSNL, said they will not participate in the spectrum auction to be held in November.

Meanwhile, Ambuja Cements is trading higher by around 2% at Rs 206 after reporting a robust 77% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in net profit at Rs 304 crore for the third quarter ended September 2012 (Q3) due to higher sales realisation and improved operational efficiencies.

"ACC is trading weak and will gain momentum only on a decisive close above 1465; the counter is a SELL below 1446 with a stop loss of 1446. AMBUJACEM is trading strong and will remain bullish terriitory above 202; we advise trades with a bearish view to avoid creating SHORT positions in this counter. The counter will gain more strength above 210 levels,"  said Shshank Mehta, Derivatives Strategist, Shah Investor's Home Ltd.

Quarterly numbers has also taken Persistent Systems higher by 6%. The company reported  a better-than-expected 7.4% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) growth in net profit at Rs 44.6 crore for the second quarter ended September 2012. Analysts, on an average, had forecast profit at Rs 41 crore. Revenues grew 8.7% at Rs 327 crore on q-o-q basis.