Sensex snaps 3-day winning streak on profit booking

Key equity benchmarks snap three-day wining streak Thursday on profit booking in blue chip stocks.

The Sensex closed at 19939, down 51 points and the Nifty closed at 6050, down 19 points. The breadth of the market was negative. About 1075 shares advanced, 1312 shares declined, and 177 shares were unchanged.

PSU banks were in limelight today after major state lenders like Punjab National Bank and Union Bank announced their results today.  PNB reported 21 percent fall in its bottomline on higher provisions. Drop in gross and non performing assets was the biggest positive from its quarterly results.

Union Bank too surged after bank reported 2 percent growth in net profit as against forecast of 15 percent fall.

Metal stocks ended in red on profit booking. Shares of metal companies have rallied this week tracking rally in copper and positive trade data from China which fuelled hopes of demand revival for metal producers.

IT stocks continued their dream run in May after Cognizant reported better than expected earnings. The company forecasted revenue growth of 17 percent, higher than Indian listed IT companies.

Key gainers in the Nifty were Punjab National Bank, HCL Tech, Ambuja Cements, SBI and Bank of Baroda, up between 1 to 4 percent.

Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, Jindal Steel, NMDC and Axis Bank were major laggards.

Blue chip stocks like Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Jaipraksh Associates, Maruti Suzuki and DLF ended in red on profit booking.

Asian Paints reported 3 percent drop in its consolidated net profit to Rs 251 crore from Rs 259 crore, a year ago. Asian Paints is one of India's leading paint companies. Its consolidated total income grew by 7 percent to Rs 2,733 crore as against Rs 2,546 crore. The stock was down 4 percent.

Jubilant Foodworks, the operator of Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts outlets in India, reported a lower-than-expected 14 percent year-on-year rise in fourth quarter net profit at Rs 33 crore, sending shares down more than 9 percent to a 52-week low of Rs 999.55 on NSE

Indian shares were taking a breather today after rallying over 10 percent in past one month. Record buying by foreign funds in cash market coupled with recent fall in crude and gold prices were some of the key drivers for this rally, says market watchers.

The Sensex was up 2.73 points at 19992 and the Nifty was up 3 points at 6072. About 1109 shares advanced, 1102 shares declined, and 157 shares remain unchanged.

Selective pharma stocks were under pressure on profit booking after touching life highs this week. Shares of Sun Pharma and Lupin were trading lower today.

IT stocks continued their northbound journey in May after relentless selling by traders in April. Cognizant's optimistic revenue guidance of 17 percent lifted sentiments of the sector.

Punjab National Bank, Reliance Infra, HCL Tech, SBI and Bank of Baroda were key gainers in the Nifty. Laggards included

Sun Pharma, NMDC, Jindal Steel, Axis Bank and Ranbaxy Labs, down between 1.5 to 3 percent.

Shares of PSU banks surged in the afternoon trade after India's No. 2 state lender Punjab National Bank reported sharp fall in its gross non performing assets. SBI, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank were up between 2 to 5 percent.

Key equity benchmarks were consolidating in afternoon trade on absence of any major triggers. The action was mainly seen in stocks that were announcing their quarterly results today.

The Sensex was down 3 points or 0.01% at 19987 and the Nifty was up 1 point or 0.01% at 6070. About 989 shares advanced, 1104 shares declined, and 166 shares remain unchanged.

IT stocks gained after Cognizant Technology forecasted current-quarter revenue above market expectations after posting an 18 percent rise in the first quarter. Shares of  TCS, Infosys and HCL Tech were up in the range of 0.5 to 2 percent.

Major gainers in the Nifty were PNB, HCL Tech, SBI, Bank of Baroda and Ambuja Cements, up between 2 to 5 percent.

Laggards included Sun Pharma, Jindal Steel, Ranbaxy Labs, NMDC and Reliance Industries, down 1 to 2 percent.

Punjab National Bank (PNB), India's No. 2 state-owned bank, on Thursday rallied over 5 percent posted a 20.6 percent fall in net profit for the quarter ended March, dragged down by higher provisions for bad loans. Key positive was the reduction in gross non performing assets (NPA) to 4.27 percent from 4.61 percent, a quarter earlier.

State-owned lender Union Bank of India surprised the street with its fourth quarter (January-March) gross non performing assets falling to 2.98 percent versus 3.36 percent, a quarter ago. Net profit rose 2 percent year-on-year (up 161 percent sequentially) to Rs 789 crore.

The market has gone flat and the Sensex slipped below the 20,000-mark. The Sensex was down 31.02 points at 19959.16, and the Nifty fell 11.30 points to 6058.00. Investors seemed a bit worried as the market has already bounced back around 10% in the last 15 days.

Except technology stocks, most of the indices were in the downtrend. Strong March quarter earnings of Cognizant boosted IT stocks with HCL Tech jumping 4%.

TCS, M&M, HDFC, Hero MotoCorp and Wipro were big gainers in the Sensex.

Broader markets were treading in the green territory. About 825 shares have advanced while 881 shares declined.

Aptech surged 11 percent on news that the company will mull a buyback at its board meeting on May 13.

Magma Fincorp soared 7.5 percent after reporting good earnings in March quarter. Net profits was up 85 percent to Rs 44.1 cr vs Rs 23.8 crore while revenues was up 57 percent to Rs 475.8 crore.  Talwalkars gained 2.5 percent on strong earnings.

Surprise of the day was Viceroy Hotels (up 16.9 percent) after the company approved proposal to sell the entire Chennai project division to Ceebros Hotels for Rs 480 crore.

Losers of the day included Sun Pharma, RIL, L&T, BHEL and GAIL.

The market opened in positive terrain after the massive rally on Wednesday. The Sensex was up 26.94 points at 20017.12 while the Nifty gained 4.80 points at 6074.10. Experts warn that the market may run into choppy waters in the near-term.

Technology stocks were gaining some momentum and the index was up over 1 percent. IT stocks are likely to be in focus today after Cognizant Technology Solutions posted 16.6 percent rise in consolidated net profit at USD 284.2 million for January-March 2013 quarter (Q1) and maintained its outlook of 17 per cent revenue growth this calendar year. Cognizant's earnings and outlook come at a time when Indian IT firms have painted a mixed picture for the industry.

HDFC continued to see buying interest after the stock hit 52-week high yesterday. Aided by robust loan growth, India's largest mortgage lender reported a forecast-beating 17 percent year-on-year rise in its fourth quarter (January - March) net profit to Rs 1,555 crore. Net interest income (NII)  increased 13 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 1,900 crore during the quarter.

Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors were the other lead gainers in the Sensex.

SKS Microfinance was up 6.70 percent on the back of strong fourth quarter earnings. The non-banking finance company turned profitable with January-March net profit at Rs 2.7 crore (up 135 percent sequentially) as against loss of Rs 329.5 crore in a year ago period. Total income rose nearly 44 percent (up nearly 12 percent Q-o-Q) to Rs 95.1 crore from Rs 66.1 crore year-on-year.

Meanwhile, Sterlite, Sun Pharma, Cipla, Maruti and Coal India were dragging in the early trade. Most of the ADAG stocks like Reliance Communication, Reliance Capital and Reliance Power were under pressure.

Companies which are expected to announce March quarter earnings today are PNB, Union Bank, HCL Infosystem, Indian Bank, Jubilant Foodworks.