Sensex closes 133 points down; PSU banks, HUL dive post Q2 nos

Indian shares closed lower on the first day of the November series following weakness in global markets, rising concerns over asset quality of public sector banks and disappointing volume growth by HUL.

The 50-share NSE Nifty fell 41 points to close at 5,664.30 after hitting an intraday low of 5,641.75, weighed down by FMCG, banking & financials, healthcare, technology and oil & gas exploration shares.

Experts feel the consolidation, which the market saw in October, may end in November due to global and local events.

UR Bhat of Dalton Capital Advisors thinks November will be an interesting month, especially after the US elections that will be held on November 6.

In terms of domestic cues in November, Bhat says, there is the Parliament opening up again and with the sort of dysfunctional politics, governance issues coming to the fore, it is a space needs to be closely watched. "We do not expect huge amount of legislative business will happen. Therefore, whatever administrative measures the government could take they have had a go at it," he said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 133.29 points to 18,625.34.

Investors also looked cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review for the first six months of FY13 on October 30.

Portfolio manager PN Vijay says market is expecting some sort of monetary loosening from the Reserve Bank of India, given the fact that inflation has not risen dramatically for quite sometime now.

"The government has shown its intention to cut the fiscal deficit quite strongly. It is a great opportunity for RBI to do monetary loosening," he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank declined 0.7 percent due to weakness in entire banking sector. Its quarterly numbers were largely in-line with expectations with the net profit growing 30 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,956 crore in Q2FY13, helped by robust loan growth and other income.

Rikesh Parikh, VP-Markets Strategy and Equities of Motilal Oswal Securities said ICICI Bank numbers were broadly in line with estimates. "Going forward we expect net interest margin to be maintained around 3 percent as cost of funds reduces, with no deterioration in assets quality," he said.

But the performance of public sector banks was quite bad in the September quarter due to asset quality concerns, pushing BSE Bankex down by 0.92 percent.

Punjab National Bank and Indian Overseas Bank dropped 7 percent following disappointing numbers in Q2FY13. IOB's net profit fell 24 percent YoY to Rs 158 crore and PNB's net went down by 11.6 percent to Rs 1,065 crore.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever tanked 2 percent after tepid volume growth in the September quarter. Net profit grew higher-than-expected 17 percent YoY to Rs 807 crore but its volumes growth was 7 percent as against 9 percent in Q1FY13 and expectations of 8-8.5 percent.

State Bank of India was down 1.3 percent while its rival HDFC Bank recouped its losses in late trade to end flat.

Cigarette major ITC dropped 2 percent. Housing finance company HDFC, private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries and telecom operator Bharti Airtel were down 1 percent.

Healthcare stocks like Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, Cipla and Ranbaxy Labs went down 1-2 percent.

Utility vehicle and tractors maker Mahindra & Mahindra rose another 2.6 percent following yesterday's rally of 3.6 percent after better-than-expected numbers in Q2.

Two-wheeler majors Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto gained 1.7 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

State-run gas transmission and marketing company GAIL climbed 0.8 percent after quarterly earnings. Power equipment maker BHEL was up 0.7 percent ahead of earnings on Monday.

Dabur fell 2 percent despite in-line with expected numbers.

For the week, the Nifty declined 0.35 percent while Sensex was down 0.3 percent.

In the second line shares, CESC plunged 15 percent after CLSA downgraded the stock owing to acquisition of Firstsource Solutions by the company. Firstsource, wherein CESC arm would acquire 49.5 percent stake for Rs 280 crore, too plunged 13 percent.

HCC was up 2 percent as its net loss fell by 56 percent YoY to Rs 17.9 crore in Q2.

Kingfisher Airlines gained 4.6 percent after the company started distributing salaries to employees.

Declining shares outnumbered advancing by a ratio of 1029 to 429 on the National Stock Exchange.

On the global front, European markets were down nearly 0.5 percent on corporate earnings concerns. The Dow Jones futures dropped 100 points, indicating lower opening of US markets today. Asian markets closed 1.4-1.8 percent lower.

Indian shares fell 1 percent in afternoon trade with the NSE Nifty falling below 5650, weighed down by banking & financials, healthcare, oil & gas exploration and technology stocks. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ITC plunged 2 percent each while telecom operator Bharti Airtel was down 1.7 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 195.08 points to 18,563.55 and the 50-share NSE Nifty went down 61.30 points to 5,644.

Country's largest private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank slipped 0.6-0.8 percent while their rival State Bank of India was down 1.7 percent. Housing finance company HDFC tumbled 1.5 percent. Public sector lender PNB crashed over 6 percent following disappointing numbers in Q2FY13.

Healthcare stocks like Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs and Cipla plummeted 1.5-2.35 percent.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and state-run oil & gas producer ONGC fell over 1.25 percent.

Technology majors too were under pressure with the Infosys, TCS and Wipro losing 0.3-1.3 percent.

Two-wheeler major Hero Motocorp extended gains to 0.9 percent while utility vehicle maker M&M gained 1.55 percent.

The broader markets were down 0.9 percent as declining shares outnumbered advancing by a ratio of 1041 to 371 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
 
On the global front, France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE fell 0.5 percent each.

Indian shares remained under pressure due to weak global cues. European markets opened lower on weak corporate earnings; France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were down 0.4-0.5 percent. Even the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures fell 0.5-0.7 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 109.45 points to 18,649.18 and the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 34.25 points to 5,671.05.

Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank was flat to positive after higher-than-expected numbers in the second quarter of FY13. However, its rivals State Bank of India and HDFC Bank were down 0.6 percent.

Public sector lender Punjab National Bank plunged 5 percent after its net profit fell by 11.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,065 crore in the July-September quarter of current financial year 2012-13 due to higher non-performing assets.

Mahindra & Mahindra retained its top position in the buying list, rising over 2 percent after good numbers in Q2. FMCG major Hindustan Unilever rose 0.6 percent ahead of second quarter numbers today.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors, state-owned power equipment manufacturer BHEL and two-wheeler major Hero Motocorp gained 0.6 percent.

Shares of Reliance Industries, ITC and HDFC tanked 1.5-1.8 percent. Pharma majors Cipla, Dr Reddy's Labs and Sun Pharma lost 1-2 percent.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel fell 1.26 percent and state-run oil & gas producer ONGC slipped 0.85 percent.

The NSE Nifty continued to trade below the 5700 level due to weakness in Asian markets. Shanghai extended losses to 2 percent while Hang Seng, Nikkei, Kospi and Taiwan Weighted were down 1-1.7 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 123 points to 18,635.69 and the 50-share NSE Nifty lost 35 points to 5,670.45.

Utility vehicle and farm equipment maker Mahindra & Mahindra rallied another 2 percent after yesterday the company reported a better-than-expected 22 percent year-on-year rise in second quarter net profit at Rs 902 crore, helped by strong automotive sales growth and higher other income.

Shares of ICICI Bank and Hindustan Unilever continued to trade higher with marginal gains ahead of quarterly earnings. Steel producer Sterlite Industries gained another 0.5 percent after rising 2 percent yesterday due to strong results.

Shares of ITC, Reliance Industries, HDFC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, Wipro, Bharti Airtel and Coal India were down 1-2 percent.

State-run oil & gas producer ONGC, engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and private sector lender HDFC Bank fell 0.8 percent each.

The broader markets were marginally down as about two shares declined for every share advancing on the National Stock Exchange.

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains with the BSE Sensex falling over 100 points, weighted down by ITC and Reliance Industries. Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra extended gains to 1.55 percent following bettter-than-expected numbers in second quarter of FY13. Country's largest lender ICICI Bank and FMCG major Hindustan Unilever gained 0.2 percent ahead of quarterly earnings today.

The 30-share BSE benchmark was quoting at 18,658.04 while the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 27 points to 5,678.20.

Private sector lender HDFC Bank and housing finance company HDFC were down 0.7 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, public sector lender State Bank of India and software services exporter Infosys slipped marginally.

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel and private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries declined 1 percent each. Cigarette major ITC dropped 1.6 percent.

Shares of diversified conglomerate Jaiprakash Associates and private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank plummeted 2 percent.

CESC plunged 14 percent and Firstsource Solutions lost 12 percent after CESC promoter Sanjiv Goenka said would acquire 49.5% equity in FSL for Rs 280 crore.

Major Asian markets remained down 1-1.7 percent on concerns over corporate earnings.

Indian shares opened marginally lower on first day of November series with the Nifty falling below the 5700 level, reacting to weak Asian cues. Shanghai tumbled 1.7 percent while Nikkei and Hang Seng declined nearly 1 percent on concerns over corporate earnings. Kospi and Taiwan Weighted were down 1.4 percent each.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 42 points to 18,717.01 and the 50-share NSE Nifty lost 12 points to 5,693.40.

Hero Motocorp fell 1.3 percent on profit booking.

PNB slipped 1.5 percent ahead of second quarter earnings today. Indian Express reported that PNB lead consortium failed to recover Rs 2,700 crore from Zoom Developers.

Reliance Infrastructure, JP Associates, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, ITC, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, BHEL, Lupin and Sun Pharma were under pressure in early trade.

M&M gained another 1 percent following yesterday's rise of 3 percent after better-than-expected numbers in the quarter ended September 2012.

DLF, NTPC and ACC were marginally higher. IDFC, HUL and ICICI Bank were up 0.3 percent ahead of quarterly earnings today.

The broader markets were flat as the market breadth was neutral.

In the second line shares, CESC plunged 13 percent due to likely pressure on its balance sheet after buying stake in 34.5 percent stake in Firstsource Solutions (which is down 8 percent).

NALCO lost 5 percent after its net profit fell significantly to Rs 4.8 crore in the Q2FY13 from Rs 139 crore in a year ago quarter due to hike in price of input materials.

IRB Infrastructure shed another 1.5 percent. Apollo Tyres declined 0.8 percent as its Vadodara plant is shut post labour strike.

Peninsula Land slipped 1.7 percent on profit booking; the stock had rallied 46 percent in previous five sessions.

Kingfisher Airlines up 4.6 percent as its employees said the company has started crediting their salaries. Kingfisher said would soon submit operations resumption plan to Directorate General of Civial Aviation.

Delta Corp and Trent rallied 2.5 percent after strong numbers in September quarter.