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Markets were trading lower in late trades on Monday weighed down by selling pressure in FMCG major ITC.
At 2:50PM , the 30-share Sensex was down 79 points at 20,605 and the 50-share Nifty was down 37 points at 6,108.
Most Asian markets were trading with gains on Monday with Japan's Nikkei gaining the most. The Nikkei ended up 2.2%. Among other indices in the region, Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng and Straits Times were marginally higher.
FMCG index was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE down 2.3% followed by Realty, Metal, Power, Bankex and Healthcare indices down 0.8-1.7% each.
ITC was down 3.3% contributing the most to the Sensex decline after reporting lower than expected revenue and net profit growth for the second quarter ended September 2013 (Q2).
The cigarette-to-hotels major’s net sales were disappointing at 8.8% year on year (yoy) to Rs 7,776 crore, which was below an average analysts estimate of Rs 8,087 crore.
While cigarettes business posted a modest top-line growth of 10% yoy impacted by higher than expected de-growth in volumes, the growth in other FMCG business too tapered to 16.1% yoy due to sluggishness in demand.
Other Sensex losers include, SBI and Sesa Sterlite which were down 2% each.
Among other shares, Tata Elxsi has surged 15% to Rs 225 after reporting over ten-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 19.93 crore for the second quarter ended September 2013 (Q2) on back of higher other income due to foreign exchange gain. The Tata Group IT software products maker had profit of Rs 1.81 crore in a year ago quarter.
Shares of infrastructure firm BF Utilities is locked in upper circuit of 20% at Rs 231 on back of heavy volumes on the bourses. The stock opened at Rs 194 on BSE and has seen over three fold jump in trading volumes.
