Sensex ends lower on mahurat; midcaps, smallcaps shine

The start of Samavat 2069 was weak for the Indian equity benchmarks on mahurat session. However, the broader markets outperformed led by breweries and media stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 51.47 points to close at 18,618.87, weighed down by technology and banking & financials stocks.

Meanwhile, the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 16.75 points to 5,666.95.

The last Samavat 2068 was quite good for the market due to rally that started since January. The Sensex surged 8 percent while the Nifty gained over 9 percent on inflow of foreign money compared to last Diwali. Foreign institutional investors have pumped in more than Rs 90,000 crore into Indian equities since last Diwali.

Technical analyst, Sudarshan Sukhani of s2analytics.com feels the next Samavat 2069 seems to be rangebound for the market. The market has been rangebound since October; the Nifty has been moving between 5600 and 5750 levels.

However, fundamental analysts are approaching Samavat 2069 with lots of optimism. Ridham Desai, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley feels that the worst is over for the market now. He is positive that the market is likely to hit new highs by next Diwali.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said, "Certainly as we approach next Diwali we will have a bit more political uncertainty because there may be elections that may be drawing closer. Overall we should be looking at market that should rise to higher levels over the course of the next 12 months."

According to SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com, midcaps will be the theme for the next Samavat, though benchmarks would be rangebound.

The BSE Midcap Index was up 0.7 percent while the Smallcap gained 1.24 percent. Since last Diwali, the midcap gained 8 percent and Smallcap rose 2.7 percent.

In the second line shares, United Spirits (that rallied 35 percent yesterday on Diageo deal) fell 1.5 percent on profit booking today.

But the sentiment effect of the Diageo deal continued in other breweries & distilleries stocks. Empee Distilleries, Radico Khaitan and Pioneer Distilleries were up 3-5 percent. United Breweries jumped over 15 percent.

Dhanlaxmi Bank rallied 6 percent amid high volumes ahead of second quarter earnings this week.

L&T Finance Holdings shot up 16 percent, which hit a new 52-week high of Rs 84.30. The company is planning to raise Rs 325 crore via issue of of unsecured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures.

Media and entertainment stocks too were in bull grip. Shares of Cinemax India, Dish TV, DQ Entertainment, Fame India, Mukta Arts, Reliance Broadcast, Sun TV, TV Today, TV18 Broadcast and Zee Entertainment were up 1-7 percent. (Moneycontrol.com and Television Eighteen Network are both part of the Network18 Group.)

Among largecaps, technology majors Infosys and TCS fell nearly 1 percent.

Country's largest lender State Bank of India was down 0.85 percent while its rival HDFC Bank slipped 0.45 percent. Housing finance company HDFC went down 1.33 percent.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors and drug producer Dr Reddy's Labs were down over 1 percent.

Shares of ONGC, Tata Steel, Cipla and Maruti gained over 0.5 percent.

Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel rose over 1 percent while private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries was up 0.34 percent.

Diversified conglomerate Jaiprakash Associates and real estate firm DLF fell 2.4 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively after poor second quarter numbers.

The market will be shut for Balipratipada holiday on Wednesday.

On the global front, European markets were trading 0.5-0.8 percent lower (at 17 hours IST) due to disappointing German sentiment survey.

Asian markets closed lower on US fiscal worries. Shanghai dropped 1.5 percent and Hang Seng slipped 1.13 percent.

Indian shares remained lacklustre despite weakness in global peers. The fall in banking & financials and technology stocks offset gains in oil & gas exploration, metals, capital goods and telecom stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex went down 16.66 points to 18,653.68 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 7.5 points to 5,676.25.

Housing finance company HDFC and private sector lender HDFC Bank were down 0.6 percent each.

Country's largest software services exporters Infosys and TCS fell 0.5 percent. Cigarette major ITC slipped 0.3 percent and commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors was down 0.5 percent.

Among metals stocks, Tata Steel and Hindalco moved up 0.7 percent each.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries went up 0.3 percent.

The broader markets outperformed quite nicely on mahurat with the BSE Midcap Index rising 0.9 percent and Smallcap climbing over 1 percent.

In the second line shares, United Breweries rallied 16 percent and L&T Finance Holdings up 15 percent.

Dhanlaxmi Bank, Anant Raj Industries, Kingfisher Airlines and DB Realty were up 3-5 percent.

France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE extended losses today on disappointing German sentiment survey, indicating European debt crisis is worsening.

Indian equity benchmarks opened flat to positive on mahurat, but immediately slipped into red following weak global trend. European markets were down 0.5-0.8 percent on US fiscal worries. Asian markets closed lower too.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 9.24 points to 18,661.10 and the 50-share NSE Nifty lost 8 points to 5,675.90.

Realty firm DLF lost 2 percent following 60 percent decline in second quarter net profit.

Ultratech Cement - a biggest gainer among largecaps in one year - was flat.

Software majors Infosys and TCS fell 0.6 percent each on profit booking as they were among gainers yesterday.

Shares of HDFC, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Auto, SBI, GAIL and DRL were under pressure.

Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel rose 1 percent.

Coal India, Tata Steel, Hindalco, JSPL, ICICI Bank, ITC, ONGC and Reliance Industries were other gainers.

In the second line shares, TBZ gained 1 percent on festive season.

UB Holdings tanked 5 percent and United Spirits dropped 2 percent on profit booking after rising quite sharply yesterday.

Hanung Toys rallied 8.5 percent.

TV18 Broadcast up 4 percent. (Moneycontrol.com and Television Eighteen Network are both part of the Network18 Group.)

Dishman, Kingfisher and L&T Finance Holdings were up 2-4 percent.