Sensex trades marginally lower; oil & gas, metals 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 09/02/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

At 12:03 hours IST, the Sensex slipped marginally into red amid volatility. Selling was seen in oil & gas, metal, capital goods, pharma and select power & banking stocks. It was just a profit booking while buying continued in technology, realty and cement stocks, which capped the gains to some extent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 17,355, down 46 points and the Nifty was at 5,169, down 18 points. The Nifty December future was trading with marginall discount while January future with 7 points premium.

Metal stocks like Hindalco, Jindal Steel, SAIL, JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Jindal Saw were down 0.5-1.7%.

In the oil & gas space, Cairn India, ONGC, IOC, GAIL, BPCL, HPCL and Reliance Industries declined 0.4-1%.

Apollo Hospital, Dr Reddys Labs, Glenmark, Piramal Health and Sun Pharma were down 1-2.6% in the healthcare segment.

In the banking segment, HDFC Bank, Canara Bank and Axis Bank slipped 0.8-1%. ICICI Bank and SBI were marginally in the red.

However, Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Tech Mahindra and HCL Tech gained 0.1-0.6%.

The BSE Midcap Index rose 0.44% and the Smallcap was up 0.84%, as about 1,761 shares advanced while 1,133 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 546 shares were unchanged.

HCC awarded Rs 374.66 crore contract for strategic oil storage cavern at Padur. The stock rose 0.8%.

Four Soft surged 4.8%, as it won contract from Sherritt International Corporation.

Cox & Kings (Australia) Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Cox and Kings (India) acquired 100% stake in MyPlanet Australia Pty Ltd & Bentours International Pty Ltd, Australia. The stock was up just 0.5%.

In the midcap space, Gammon Infra was up 10%. KGN Industries, JM Financial, Prism Cement and BOC India were up 4-5% while Great Offshore, Apollo Hospital, Central Bank, Simplex Infra and Sunteck Realty lost 1.7-3%.

In the smallcap space, Nitin Fire Protection, HSIL, Balkrishna Industries, Balaji Telefilm and Sarasind gained 8-13.6% while BL Kashyap, VIP Industries, Gee Kay Finance, Advani Hotels and Religare Techno fell 3-5%.

Among Asian markets, Nikkei slipped further to 0.9% and Hang Seng fell 0.5%. However, Shanghai gained 1.3%. Jakarta, Kospi and Taiwan Weighted went up 0.5-0.7%.