Nifty ends below 8250, Sensex weak; Maruti, Wipro up 1-2%

It was a second day of consolidation while the market ended with minor losses. The Sensex slipped 108.52 points or 0.4 percent at 27253.44 and the Nifty was down 27.65 points or 0.3 percent at 8232.90. About 1264 shares advanced, 1446 shares declined, and 142 shares were unchanged.Laurence Balanco, CLSA says short-term pullbacks are likely to be only a partial retracement of the September lows before another advance phase takes price action higher into the year-end."The Nifty continues its relatively slow recovery off the September low. This lack of momentum coupled with the overhead resistance at the 8,398-8,647 area leads us to expect the Nifty to move into a tactical trading top," he adds.Most of the market action today was dominated by mixed corporate results by few index heavyweights.

Andrew Holland of Ambit Investment Advisors feels very encouraged about Q2 results as he says though the topline growth in the second quarter has been subdued, margin expansion has been encouraging. He sees this will help companies in the following year as well.

Buoyed up by Q2 earnings, Maruti ended with 2 percent gains. The country's largest car maker's profit shot up 42 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,225.6 crore, driven by strong revenue and operational growth. Profit growth was limited due to lower other income and sharp rise in tax cost.

Other gainers in the Sensex were Sun Pharma, Wipro, HDFC Bank and Bajaj Auto. Axis Bank 's July-September quarter earnings matched analysts' expectations on Tuesday with profit rising 18.9 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,915.6 crore with stable asset quality. It was aided by other income, operating profit and lower provisions but impacted by higher tax cost.

Meanwhile, Lupin disappointed investors with dismal earnings. Its consolidated net profit plunged 35 percent year-on-year to Rs 409 crore on weak operational performance and slow revenue growth that impacted by US and Japan businesses. Lower other income also hit bottomline. The stock slumped over 5 percent at day's close.

ONGC, HDFC, GAIL and BHEL were among other losers in the Sensex.

Meanwhile, IndiGo's IPO took off with strong demand from institutional investors but demand is muted so far among retail and high-networth individuals. The total IPO size is subscribed 0.8 times on day 1 so far.