 "Capital goods, auto shares perk up in a rangebound market")
Markets ended lower on Monday amid profit taking in late trades with index heavyweights and financials leading the decline.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended down 109 points at 27,362 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 40 points at 8,256.
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(Updated at 2:20pm)
Benchmark share indices continued to remain rangebound in late noon trades with gains in capital goods and auto shares offsetting losses in select index heavyweights and financials.
At 2:20pm, the Sensex was down 38 points at 27,432 and the Nifty dipped 15 points at 8,280.
In the broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are down nearly 0.4% each. Markets breadth is weak with 1,600 losers and 970 gainers on the BSE.
Meanwhile, the market is expected to remain volatile for the week ahead of derivatives expiry later this week.
Markets had gained in early trades following China's central bank’s move to cut interest rate for the sixth time in a year was welcomed by the world financial markets.
The Indian rupee was trading lower against the US dollar at 64.93 against previous close of 64.83 due to strong dollar demand from importers
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SECTORS & STOCKS
Capital Goods index was the top gainer along with Auto index among others while Bankex, Oil&Gas and Realty indices were the top losers.
In the capital goods segment, L&T was up 0.7% ahead of its September quarter earnings later this week while state-owned BHEL was up 2.4%.
Auto stocks firmed up on hopes post September quarter earnings and hopes of higher demand after most them have lined up new launches ahead of the festive season. Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp were up 1-1.9% each.
Bharti Airtel was down 1.7% on profit taking. The telecom major today reported a Q2 net profit of Rs 1,523 crore, up 10.1% on an annual basis.
From the metal pack, Vedanta and Hindalco have surged between 0.4-1.7% each after reports suggest that the government is planning to double the import duty on aluminium. Tata Steel has gained 1.4%.
HDFC was marginally down despite better-than-expect earnings. The mortgage lender today reported a 18.2% rise in Q2 standalone net profit at Rs 1,605 crore. It had reported a net profit of Rs 1,358 crore in the year-ago quarter. Total income rose to Rs 7,466 crore compared to Rs 6,635 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Among other shares, Kanoria Chemicals & Industries was up over 6% at Rs 67 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company said that its subsidiary has set up a denim manufacturing unit in the African nation of Ethiopia.
Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals was up 10% at Rs 76.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company reported that its net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 rose nearly 15% to Rs 142.6 crore compared with Rs 124.3 crore for the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
