Nifty ends with modest cut; Bankex dips 2.9%, oil & gas up

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Equity benchmarks closed a rangebound session with a modest cut. The indices lost around 0.8% during the day but managed to show a smart recovery in the last one hour of trade, which could be attributed to positive European cues. Overall the market consolidated for the third consecutive session.

Financials were on sellers' radar for another session on Tuesday, especially after the RBI governor asked banks to trim interest margins. The BSE Bankex cracked 2.86%; heavyweights SBI and ICICI Bank plunged 3-3.5%. Axis Bank was top loser on Nifty with 4.2% cut. Kotak Mahindra Bank was also down 3.3% and PNB down 2.5%; HDFC Bank declined 1.3% and HDFC fell 0.57%.

Realty and FMCG companies' shares along with TCS, Tata Motors, Jaiprakash Associates, Ranbaxy and Reliance Communications were also witnessed selling pressure.

On the other side, buying in oil & gas, cement, select technology, auto, metal and capital goods companies' shares along with Bharti Airtel limited losses to major extent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 19,934.64, down 46.67 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 15.70 points or 0.26% to settle at 5,976.55, after seeing recovery of 110.2 points & 36.85 points from day's low.

Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS said that the markets are unlikely to retest 5,700 in December, though there are some value concerns at higher levels of 6,200-6,300.

European markets like France's CAC jumped 2%; Britain's FTSE and Germany's DAX gained more than one percent each. Even Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures went up 0.7-0.9%.

DLF from realty space slipped 3.4%. Shares of India's largest commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors lost 1.65% while Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, M&M and Hero Honda were up 0.8-1.5%.

ITC and HUL from FMCG segment declined 0.5% & 1.5%, respectively. Ranbaxy Labs from healthcare space fell 1.4% whereas Sun Pharma rose 1.6%; Dr Reddy's Labs and Cipla gained 0.36-0.6%.

Oil & gas exploration companies' shares were quite supportive; Reliance Industries and ONGC went up 1-1.3%. GAIL was up 1.7% and Cairn India up 0.8% while BPCL lost over 1%. ACC and Ambuja Cements moved up 1.4-2%.

In technology pack, Infosys, HCL Tech and Wipro were up 1-2.3% while TCS declined 1.3%. Bharti Airtel from telecom space rose 1% while Reliance Communications went down 0.9%.

NTPC was the leader on Nifty with 2.4% gain; Tata Power, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power were up 0.2-0.9% while Suzlon Energy fell 2.3% and Power Grid was down 0.75%. In capital goods space, L&T and Siemens moved up 0.35-0.5%.

In metal space, Hindalco surged 2.5%; Sesa Goa was up 1.7% and Tata Steel up 0.7%. Sterlite Industries and Jindal Steel gained just 0.4% each while SAIL lost 0.35%.

In midcap space, Amtek Auto, Pfizer, S Kumars Nationwide, Jain Irrigation and Coromandel International were up 3.6-8.3% while Allahabad Bank, IRB Infra, Manappuram, United Bank and Emami fell 5-6.8%.

In smallcap space, Hexaware Tech, Spice Mobility, Graviss Hosp, Genesys Intl and Karuturi Global went up 6.8-13.9% while SVC Resources, Midfield Industries and Uflex locked at 20% lower circuit. Parekh Aluminex was locked at 10% lower circuit. Sarda Energy fell 9.57%.

About 887 shares advanced on the Bombay Stock Exchange as against 2095 shares declined. Nearly 477 shares remained unchanged.