Markets end lower

TCS top loser among the Sensex stocks

Marets ended today's rangebound session on a werak note. The Sensex provisionally closed weaker by 32 points at 19,392 and the 50-share Nifty provisionally closed weaker by 2 points at 5,905.
---------------------------------
(Updated at 1440 hours)

Markets are trading on a lacklustre note in the late noon deals on the back of selling pressure visible in the heavyweight stocks like Reliance Industries, TCS and ICICI Bank. The Sensex is down 32 points at 19,392 and the 50-share Nifty has slipped 12 points at 5,895 levels.

The Asian markets ended on a positive note and touched 16-month high as investors took heart from rising factory output growth in China and a falling unemployment rate in the United States that raised hopes about the outlook for the world's top two economies.

The positive mood was tempered by Chinese trade data that saw both exports and imports come in below forecasts, but equities and commodities such as copper and oil remained in the black. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.2% and Tokyo's Nikkei share average firmed 0.1%.

Hang Seng closed higher by 86 points at 22,276, Shanghai Composite jumped 22 points to close at 2,084, Nikkei advanced 6 points to close at 9,534 and Straits Times advanced 9 points to end at 3,116.

The European markets opened on a weak note in trades today with a key index retreating from a 18-month high hit last week on renewed worries over Italy's finances after Prime Minister Mario Monti said he will resign. Monti's decision to resign revives worries over the country's ability to deal with its debt. CAC, DAX and FTSE were down 0.2-0.6% each.

Back home, TCS is the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down 2.4% at Rs 1,238 the stock extended its past four-days fall on fears of lower revenue growth in next year.

The stock of the country’s largest IT services company currently trading at four-month low and has underperformed the market by falling almost 6% in past one week compared to 5% decline in IT index. The benchmark Sensex has gained 0.48% during the same period.

Auto stocks such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors fell 0.7-1% each on reports that automobile exports from India registered a drop of 4.57% during the April to November period this fiscal, compared to the same period last year.

According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) today, passenger vehicle exports grew by 8.03% during April to November. Of this, passenger cars grew by 7.81% at 356,791 units, utility vehicles exports were up 36% to 4,445 units. Vans, on the other hand, registered a drop in exports to 1159 units, down 8%.

Bharti Airtel, NTPC, index heavyweight Reliance Industries, Hindalco, Tata Power, Larsen & Toubro, Jindal Steel, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, ONGC and ITC also slipped lower in trades today.

On the other hand, HDFC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla, Bajaj Auto, Wipro, HUL, GAIL India and BHEL were among the gainers up 0.7-1.6% each.