Sensex, Nifty flat; Sesa up 2%, Ashok Leyland hits new high

03:30 pm Market closing

The market closed flat dragged by some bit of profit booking. The Nifty consolidated at around 8300. The 50-share index ended at 8324, up 1.95 points while Sensex was down 5.45 points  at 27860.38. However, small & midcaps rallied with some smart gains. Realty index was up 3 percent.

Sesa Sterlite, Axis Bank, HDFC, SBI and ICICI Bank were top gainers while Gail, M&M, Coal India, Maruti and Bajaj Auto were among the laggards.

3:00 pm China economy

China's economy lost further momentum heading into the fourth quarter as a cooling property market weighed on activity and export demand softened, surveys showed, putting Beijing's official target for the year at even greater risk.

Analysts had already expected full-year growth to miss the goal of around 7.5 percent, but many thought there may be some signs of stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy late in the year after a flurry of stimulus measures.

Instead, the surveys showed demand at home and abroad continued to cool and the labour market remained under stress, while adding to fears that many companies are being starved of credit as banks grow more reluctant to lend.

02:30pm Dabur India up over 1%

FMCG major Dabur India has reported a 15.1 percent growth in net profit at Rs 287.5 crore in September quarter compared to Rs 249.74 crore in same quarter last year.

Total income from operations grew by 10.3 percent to Rs 1,929.6 crore in the second quarter of current financial year 2014-15 from Rs 1,748.90 crore in the year-ago period driven by consumer care as well as foods businesses.

The company maintained its volume growth within the guidance of 8-10 percent. Volume growth for September quarter was 8.7 percent compared to 8.3 percent in previous quarter.

Bottomline was in-line while topline was slightly lower than analysts' expectations. Profit was expected at Rs 286 crore on revenue of Rs 1,991 crore for the quarter, according to the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18.

02:00pm Market Check

The market remained flat with a negative bias as the Sensex and Nifty consolidated their gains after hitting record highs last week. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices continued to outperform benchmarks, up 1 percent each.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 47.59 points to 27818.24 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 13.25 points to 8308.95. About 1679 shares have advanced, 1145 shares declined, and 117 shares are unchanged.

 

Andrew Holland of Ambit Capital said he expects the Nifty to hit 9000 before the Budget and will not be surprised to see a 50 basis points rate cut in the first quarter of calendar year 2015.

Sesa Sterlite topped the buying list in the Sensex, up 2 percent followed by Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and Reliance Industries with 0.6-1.5 percent while Gail India tanked 5.58 percent as CLSA downgraded the stock to sell from outperform. Mahindra and Mahindra, Coal India, Maruti Suzuki and NTPC lost 1.5-3 percent.

In macro data, the auto industry is in reverse gear as sales for the month of October missed expectations. The festive season failed to cheer, most auto makers like Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hero Motocorp reported a drop in sales.

Ashok Leyland surged 2.5 percent to touch a record high of Rs 47.50 after reporting a 23 percent rise in total sales at 8,375 units in October year-on-year.

The currency was trading weak at 61.41 to the dollar on account of dollar buying from importers and gains in the dollar overnight. Gold, in the meantime, struggled near a four-year low, trading at sub USD 1170 an ounce.

Globally, equity markets were a mixed bag. Asian markets like Korea and Hong Kong were lower by 0.5 percent while China was higher after Chinese PMI data rose to 3-month high of 50.4. European markets, in the meanwhile, were trading flat today ahead of euro zone PMI data later today.