Nifty slips towards 5900; PSU oil & gas, cement up

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At 11:53 hours IST - equity benchmarks as well as broader markets were on the sellers' radar today, due to the downtrend in financial, metal, auto, capital goods and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group companies' shares. Among others, Reliance Industries, TCS and Infosys were also under selling pressure.

On the other side, however, FMCG, cement, realty and PSU oil & gas companies' shares along with Bharti, Wipro, Ranbaxy Labs and Dr Reddy's Labs were supporting the markets.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala of Rare Enterprise said that markets are likely to consolidate in the near-term. He is long on the markets at current levels.

A likely margin squeeze, post hike in deposit rates by banks, was the main reason for the fall in financials. HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and IDFC were down 2-3%. SBI and Kotak Mahindra Bank fell 0.3% each. Kotak Mahindra Bank was down 0.9% while ICICI Bank recovered smartly.

Nandan Chakraborty of Enam said, "In the banking sector, margins will be hit by the rise in deposit rates. Asset quality could be a concern in FY12, though the scam-related portions are quite small in the overall context."

The 30-share BSE Sensex shed 170 points to 19,763 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 49 points to 5,927. The broader indices slipped 0.7-1%. However, the Nifty December futures were trading at 19 points premium.

Among Asian markets, Shanghai and Hang Seng were down 0.6-0.9% while Nikkei went up 1%.

Among frontliners, HDFC Bank was trading at Rs 2,291.40, down 2.6%; HDFC was at Rs 686.85, down 2.17%; Tata Motors was at Rs 1,306, down 1.94%; Bajaj Auto was at Rs 1,574.30, down 1.92%; Tata Steel was at Rs 627.85, down 1.84%; Axis Bank was at Rs 1,282.50, down 3.17% and IDFC was at Rs 176.60, down 2.05%.

However, ONGC was trading at Rs 1,351.90, up 1.06%; Bharti Airtel was at Rs 351.45, up 0.75%; DLF was at Rs 301.20, up 0.72%; HUL was at Rs 296.20, up 0.17%; Wipro was at Rs 435.50, up 0.17%; BPCL was at Rs 683.50, up 3.40%; ACC was at Rs 1,017.25, up 2.05%; Ranbaxy Labs was at Rs 568.15, up 1.43% and Ambuja Cements was at Rs 140.85, up 1.37%.

In midcap space, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, IRB Infra, Gammon Infra, Berger Paints and KSK Energy gained 2.5-5.5% while Jain Irrigation, Money Matters, Corporation Bank, Sintex India and Allahabad Bank fell 3.8-5.5%.

In smallcap space, Surana Industries, Aqua Logistics, Sahara One, Rollatainers and Centrum Finance jumped 5-9% while Spectacle Industries plunged 20%. SVC Resources, Midfield Industries and Uflex were down 10% each. Karuturi Global lost 8.16%.