Nifty snaps 4-day winning streak; midcaps outperform

Moneycontrol Bureau

Indian equity benchmarks snapped four-day winning streak with the Nifty closing 9 points down on Monday. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 34.58 points to close at 19,305.32 while the 50-share NSE Nifty lost 8.9 points to 5,870.95.

The market saw profit booking as it had rallied 4.5 percent in the last four sessions on hopes of FDI clearance in retail. Experts feel the market will see small correction after sharp rally seen last week.

There is some more dampner ahead for the market as Fitch Ratings has warned that gross domestic product (GDP) at 5.3 percent in July-September confirms slowdown in Indian economy. Fitch expects FY13 GDP growth to fall to 6% and pegs FY14 growth at 7%.

Also Read: Morgan Stanley raises India's GDP forecast to 5.4% for FY13

Meanwhile, private sector lender HDFC Bank dropped 2.37 percent whereas its rivals State Bank of India and ICICI Bank were up 1.53 percent and 0.33 percent, respectively.

Cigarette major ITC and housing finance company HDFC moved up 0.7 percent each. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel lost 1.76 percent.

Auto stocks were mixed after reporting sales numbers for November in last weekend. Commercial vehicle major Tata Motors went down 0.8 percent while two-wheeler majors Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto slipped marginally.

Country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki and utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra climbed 1 percent each.

Index heavyweight and private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries was up 1.23 percent

Steel producer Tata Steel and aluminium major Hindalco Industries were up over 1 percent. State-owned power equipment maker BHEL advanced 1.6 percent.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks quite nicely. The BSE Midcap Index went up 1.2 percent and the Smallcap gained 0.86 percent.

Cement stocks topped the buying list with the ACC gaining 3.76 percent and Ultratech Cement rising 3 percent.

In the second line shares, Videocon Industries, CRISIL, Pantaloon Retail, City Union Bank and HT Media surged 6-12 percent whereas Blue Circle, Edelweiss Financial, Tata Communications, Sanofi India and 3M India were down 3-6 percent.

Advancing shares outnumbered declining by a ratio of 1613 to 1240 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.