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Asian shares pulled backed from a five-month high and the dollar stabilised after recent heavy losses as markets waited for US jobs data that could shape expectations as to whether the Federal Reserve will start withdrawing stimulus this year.
Investors were expected to be reluctant to make aggressive bets after US stocks ended little changed, partly on concerns that equities have become overpriced after the S&P 500 index's run to record highs last week.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.3%, dropping from a five-month peak. Technical charts indicated it remained in "overbought" territory, indicating there could be a further retreat.
US stocks ended little changed on Monday as lackluster earnings reports from McDonald's and others fed concerns that equities were overpriced after the S&P index's run to record highs last week.
Back home, Cairn India, ING Vysya Bank, Wipro and YES Bank will announce the second quarter earnings today.
On the sectoral front, BSE Bankex has declined by nearly 1% followed by counters like Realty, Oil & Gas and FMCG, all declining marginally. However, BSE IT index has gained by almost 1%.
The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include ICICI Bank, HDFC, RIL, HDFC Bank, Hero Moto, ITC, SBI and Tata Motors.
Mortgage lender HDFC yesterday posted a 10.27% jump in its standalone post tax profit for the September quarter at Rs 1,266.33 crore.
It had posted a net profit of Rs 1,151.12 crore in the corresponding July-September quarter last year.Its net interest income grew 11% to Rs 1,814 crore.
The growth was slower because of the dividend from its associate HDFC Bank coming in the first quarter itself, unlike the usual second quarter, its Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Keki Mistry said.
On the gaining side, TCS, Hindalco, Wipro, L&T and Coal India gained between 1-2%.
Among other shares, Karnataka Bank has tanked nearly 8% at Rs 96.40 in early morning deals on the BSE, after reporting a sharp 75% year-on-year (yoy) decline in net profit at Rs 28.95 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 (Q2) due to higher provisioning towards non-performing assets (NPAs).
The broader markets continue to outperform the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.4%.
The market breadth in BSE remains positive 532 shares advancing and 314 shares declining.
