Markets trade on a lacklustre note

The markets continued to trade on a lacklustre note in the noon deals. The Sensex lost 9 points to 16,515 and the Nifty was down 7 points at 4,962. earlier in the day, the Sensex touched the low of 16,372.

Somil Mehta, Senior Technical Analyst (Equity), Sharekhan, expects the downtrend to resume, "I expect downtrend to resume. Nifty has faced resistance around 20 day Exponential Moving Average, around 5,000 levels. On the downside Nifty has support around 4,700. In the short and medium term Nifty can correct to 4,400 levels."

Meanwhile, thew European markets have opened lower, CAC 40 index opened at 2,990, down 1%, FTSE shed 0.8% to 5,249 and the DAX was down 28, points to 5,600.;

Back home, metal stocks were amongst the worst hit on the bourses in trades thus far. Hindalco was the top losers among the Sensex stocks, down 3% to Rs 130. Sterlite Industries shed 2.6% to Rs 119. Tata Steel and Jindal Steel were also trading lower by 2% and 1.7% each respectively. Other losers included J P Associates, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra and Coal India.

On the other hand IT stocks were among the gainers. Frontline IT stocks like Infosys, TCS and Wipro were among the top gainers on the benchmark index. Analysts believe the current depreciation in rupee against leading currency will lead to forex gain. Hence, earnings surprises could be seen in range +7.5% to 16.6% for IT companies. NTPC, DLF, ONGC and ITC were also among the notable gainers.

Among the other stocks Excel Crop Care has soared 16% to Rs 159 on hopes that the Supreme Court may remove ban on export of unused stock of pesticide Endosulfan, an important product for the company.

On the sectoral front, BSE Metal index was the top loser, down 208 points to 11,261. Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, Auto, Bankex, Power and Realty and PSU indices were also trading in the red. At the same time, IT, FMCG, Healthcarte and Oil & Gas indices were among the few gainers.

Suzlon Energy, Crompton Greaves, BGR Energy, Siemens, L&T, Praj Industries, BEML and ABB were the top losers among the capital goods stocks. Among the FMCG stocks, GCPL was the top gainer. It was followed by United Breweries, United Spirits, Dabur India, Nestle and ITC.

The broader markets were also trading lower. The BSE mid-cap index shed 19 points to 6,210 and the small-cap index was down 30 points to 6,987.

The overall breadth was negative as 1,416 stocks were declining while 1,138 stocks are advancing.