Business Standard

Markets remain under pressure; Financial Tech gains

Losses in BHEL, L&T and SBI keep gains under check

SI Reporter Mumbai
Markets continue to trade flat with the Sensex up 19 points at 19,183 and the Nifty was up three points at 5,680.

In the broader markets, midcap index was down 0.5% and the smallcap index was down 0.05%.

The rupee today appreciated by 20 paise to 60.90 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange, mainly due to dollar selling by exporters.

Among individual stocks, PI Industries rallied 11% to Rs 135, in otherwise subdued market, after reporting more than doubled net profit at Rs 48.54 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, on back of strong growth in sales. The agrochemicals company had profit of Rs 23.45 crore in year ago quarter.
 
Canara Bank is trading lower by 4% to Rs 232, after reporting a marginal 2% year-on-year growth in net profit at Rs 792 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2013, due to higher provisioning for bad loans.

Shares in Financial Technologies (India) Ltd rose as much as 14.1% in volatile trading after slumping 73% over the previous two sessions.
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(Updated at 1040 hrs)
Markets started the week on a flat note amidst volatile trades with the Sensex up 42 points at 19,206 and the Nifty up 10 points at 5687. The ones leading the gains in the opening trades were TCS, ITC and HDFC.

In the broader markets, smallcap index was up 0.3% and the midcap index started in the negative, down 0.2%.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were soft in early trade as the U.S. dollar was on the defensive after data showed U.S. employers slowed their pace of hiring in July, while the NZ dollar dropped after a food-safety scare affected exports of the country's largest company.

Japan's Nikkei share average fell 1% in early trade and South Korean  shares dipped 0.3%, in contrast to Wall Street which ended at record highs on Friday in part helped by expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve may delay scaling back its stimulus.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng marginally gained by 0.1%.

Back home, among the sectoral indices, PSU, Realty, Bankex, Power and Capital goods started in the negative, losing 0.1-1.3%.

Meanwhile, Consumer Durables, Auto, IT, Oil & Gas, Teck, FMCG and Metal indices started off with gains ranging between 0.2-1%

The gainers among the Sensex-30 were Jindal Steel, Tata Motors, NTPC and Mahindra & Mahindra adding 1-2%.

TCS, HUL, ONGC, Wipro, Sum Pharma and Maruti Suzuki up 0.5-0.8% were the other notable gainers.

Among the losers were BHEL which cracked 11% to Rs 133, after reporting a sharp 50% year-on-year drop in its net profit at Rs 465 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2013 (Q1), due to lower sales.

The other losers were Tata Power, SBI, Tata Steel, Cipla, Hindalco and Gail India, all down 1-2%.

Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, L&T and HDFC Bank down 0.6-0.7% were the other losers.

The market breadth was negative. 567 stocks declined while 496 stocks advanced on the BSE.

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First Published: Aug 05 2013 | 10:40 AM IST

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