Sensex trades lower; SBI, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, RIL dip

ALSO READ See Key Market Stats - Top Gainers/ Losers, Most Actives, Highs/Lows See how Global Markets are trading Indian ADRs Nifty BSE | NSE 31/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

Sensex choppy with negative bias; RIL goes ex-bonus

The Sensex started the day on a negative note and was consolidating ahead of F&O expiry. Reliance Industries was down 1% at Rs 1,087, the stock went ex-bonus today (bonus issue was 1:1). Metal stocks were seeing buying interest as the CRB Index was up 2.3%. Cement stocks were the strongest.

At 9:56 am, the Nifty was down 12 points at 5,095 and the Sensex fell 39 points to 17,159. However, the CNX Midcap was up 13 points at 7,244, as about 427 shares advanced while 239 shares declined on the NSE.

Among the frontliners, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, NTPC, HDFC, Tata Steel, TCS, L&T, BHEL, HCL Tech, DLF, Unitech and Tata Steel were the losers. Siemens was flat ahead of its numbers.

Mahindra Satyam lost another 7.5%, which had lost 11% on Wednesday. Tech Mahindra lost 4%, which fell 7% yesterday.

However, ACC, Sun Pharma, Hindalco, Ambuja Cements, PNB, Sterlite, Industries, SAIL, Axis Bank and Bharti Airtel were the gainers in the early trade.

Midcap space:

Heidelberg Cement was up 4.5%. Prism Cement rose 4% and India Cements was up 2%.

Edserv Soft shot up 5% and KPIT Cummins was up 3.7%.

EIH rose 7.5%, as ITC board is considering several options for EIH stake and may consider counter-offer for the company.

Newly listed Astec Life was up 1%. 

Dena Bank was down 1%.

Global cues:

Asian markets were down. Hang Seng and Shanghai fell 1% each.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed at fresh 13-month highs on the back of strong economic data and weak dollar. The CRB Index was up 2.3% and the Dollar Index down 1%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 31 points at 10,464, S&P 500 Index up 5 points at 1,110 and Nasdaq Composite was up 7 points at 2,176.

Initial jobless claims fell to 466,000, lowest level in more than a year. Continuing claims fell to 5.42 million, multi-month low. New home sales were up 6.2% in October to an annualized rate of 430,000, at 1-year high.

Commodities

Reuter CRB Index was up 2.3%.

Crude gained over 2% at $77.9/bbl, as inventories gained less than expected.

Gold ended up 1.7% at $1185.5/ounce.

Gold made record high at $1193/ounce, which gained 16% MTD (month-to-date).

There were reports that India may consider more bullion buying from IMF.

Baltic Dry Index was down 2.4%.

Copper was at 14-month highs and Zinc at 18-month highs.

Market cues:

-FIIs net buy USD 65 million in cash on November 24
-MFs net sell Rs 278.5 crore in cash on November 24
-Total F&O Open Int up by Rs 2,568 crore to Rs 1,19,755 crore
-FIIs net sell Rs 331 crore in cash on November 25 (prov)
-DIIs net buy Rs 141 crore in cash on November 25 (prov)
-FIIs net buy Rs 520 crore in F&O on November 25

F&O cues:

-Total F&O turnover at Rs 91,235 crore versus 1.06 lakh crore on D-1 of last expiry
-Nifty down 0.3% , Futures Open Int up 8%
-Total Futures Open Int up by Rs 2403 crore
-Total Options Open Int up by Rs 165 crore
-Nifty IVs at at 22-26% levels
-Nifty Open Int PCR up from 1.66 to 1.71
-Nifty Dec PO PCR at 1.62
-Nifty Dec Fut trading at 12-pt prem versus 7-pt prem
-Nifty Calls shed 9.8 lakh shares in Open Int
-Nifty Puts adds 8.5 lakh shares in Open Int
-Nifty Dec 5100 Put adds 5.3 lakh shares in Open Int
-Nifty Dec 5000 Put adds 5.2 lakh shares in Open Int
-Nifty Dec 4900 Put adds 2.9 lakh shares in Open Int
-Nifty Nov 5200 Put adds 2.7 lakh shares in Open Int
-Nifty Nov 5100 Call sheds 10.3 lakh shares in Open Int
-Stock Futures add 2.1 crore shares in Open Int