Profit-taking during the end of the session saw Indian markets end lower on Monday. Despite positive global cues, the Sensex fell 70 points to finish at 16,740 amid a volatile session. On the NSE, Nifty shed 26 points to close at 4,970.
Market watchers expect the Indian markets to remain a bit choppy over the next one to two weeks. David Pezarkar, head of equities at Shinsei Asset Management, said he expects Indian markets to follow domestic results, rather than global trends, over the next one to two weeks and may remain a bit choppy.
Realty, banking and oil & gas stocks led the decline in the markets today. The BSE realty index shed 4.6 per cent. Unitech and DLF dropped over 5 per cent each.
The BSE bankex dropped 1.6 per cent. Karnataka Bank plunged 9.3 per cent on disappointing quarterly results. The bank reported a 77.78 per cent decline in net profit in the September quarter.
The oil & gas index on the BSE was down 1.5 per cent. Aban Offshore fell 10.3 per cent to Rs 1,381 on poor earnings. The company’s net profit for the second quarter fell 73 per cent to Rs 71.44 crore on a year-on-year basis.
IT and pharma stocks, however, posted marginal gains today. The BSE healthcare index rose 0.8 per cent and the IT index ended 0.5 per cent higher.
In the Sensex pack, DLF was the top loser. The stock closed down 5.4 per cent at Rs 430. JP Associates and Hindalco shed over 3 per cent each.
Tata Motors was the biggest gainer. The stock rose 1.9 per cent to end at Rs 539. ITC, Tata Steel and HDFC rose more than 1.6 per cent each.
The Sensex traded between a high of 16,706 and low of 16,938 during the session.
The market breadth on the BSE was negative, with 1,003 stocks declining and 1,726 gaining. The smallcap and midcap stocks experienced more selling pressure, with their indices on the BSE down 1.3 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.
Asian markets mostly rose on Monday, shrugging off a fall on Wall Street as South Korea’s fastest growth in over seven years underscored the region’s strengthening economic recovery. European shares were higher. US stocks faltered on Friday as investors dumped stocks and locked in profits after the glow of a week full of strong earnings reports faded.
But markets in Asia found new impetus after South Korea's central bank said economic growth accelerated to 2.9 per cent in the third quarter from the previous quarter — the fastest growth since the first quarter of 2002.