Markets remain subdued in noon trades

HDFC, HDFC Bank shares up, RIL , L&T shares down

Market continued to remain lacklustre with negative bias in noon trades on lack of fresh buying interest amid weak Asian cues.

At 1PM the 30-share Sensex was down 20 points at 18,743 and the 50-share Nify was down 4 points at 5,700.

Asian markets were trading lower ahead of the US Presidential elections later today. The Nikkei ended down 0.4% at 8,975 while the Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng and Straits Times were down 0.2-0.5% each.

Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, Realty, Healthcare, FMCG and IT were the top gainers while Auto, Capital Goods and Metal indices were the top losers.

Realty shares were up on hopes of demand pick up by home buyers during the festival season.
DLF was up 1%, HDIL was up 3.5% and Indiabulls Real Estate was up 1.7%.

Cipla was the top Sensex performer after reporting a better-than-expected 62% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 500 crore for the second quarter ended September 2012,  buoyed by growth in exports and a reduction in the cost of raw materials. Analysts, on an average, had expected profit of Rs 365 crore from drug maker.

Among the financials, HDFC, HDFC Bank and SBI were marginally up 0.5-1.0% each.

IT shares firmed up tracking weakness in the Indian rupee. Infosys and Wipro were up 0.5% each.

ONGC was up 0.5% on reports that the company will sell 26 per cent stake in its KG Basin exploration block, KG-DWN-2004/6, to Japanese oil and gas explorer Inpex Corporation, a company statement said after the signing of an agreement here. The transaction will materialise after the government approves the deal.

Auto shares were among the top losers on account of profit booking after recent gains following robust October sales. Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto were down 0.6-1.7% each.

HIndalco was down 2.5% ahead of its second quarter results later today.  Among the index heavyweights Reliance Industries and L&T were down 0.8% each.

The broader markets were trading with marginal gains. The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 0.2-0.3% each.

The market breadth was marginally positive with 1,320 gainers and 1,269 losers on the BSE.