Mkt ends mixed: Frontliners down, midcaps up

Mumbai: The markets ended mixed as there was sluggishness seen in the frontliners but the broader markets ended higher. Selling pressure seen in frontliners from banking, capital goods, IT and power space.

Profit booking was inline with the weakness in Asian markets. Midcaps and smallcap both the indices were up over 1%.

Essar pack stocks are on fire with Essar Shipping, Essar Oil and Essar Steel putting on huge gains. Essar Steel was locked in upper circuit up 20%.

Steel stocks like Tata Metalliks, Lloyd Steel, JSW Steel, Shree Precoated ended in green. Metal, FMCG and realty stocks were attracting attention. Oil & gas sector was shining with refinery stocks like Bongaigaon up 30% followed by MRPL, HPCL, BPCL and IOC.

Among the frontliners Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, VSNL, Nalco, ITC were the top gainers. Power stocks have taken it on their chin, Reliance Energy, NTPC and Tata Power are all trading in red.

Followed by banking and IT pivotals like HDFC Bank and Infosys.

Rupee was quoting at 39.30 against a US dollar. Strength in rupee is seen despite some weakness in markets. Sensex was down 144.17 points or 0.72% at 19784.89, and the Nifty down 25.80 points or 0.43% at 5912.10.

About 1933 shares have advanced, 1064 shares declined, and 68 shares are unchanged.

The BSE Midcap Index ended at 8,414.09 down 1.6%. The BSE Smallcap Index ended at 10,227.66 down 1.9%. The BSE Bankex was down 2% at 11,053.02. HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Karnataka Bank, SBI, PNB moved downwards.

The BSE Capital Goods Index was up 0.2% at 20,905.87. Thermax, Reliance Infra, Jyoti Structure, Siemens, Bharat Bijlee closed higher.

The BSE Auto Index closed flat at 5,391.37. MRF, Cummins, Bharat Forge, Tata Motors closed lower. The BSE Metal Index closed at 17,739.89 down 0.1%. Jindal Steel, Mah Seamless, Hindalco, Sterlite Ind closed lower.

The BSE FMCG Index closed at 2,138.62 up 2%. GlaxoSmith Con, Godrej Consumer, ITC, United Spirits closed higher. BSE Oil and Gas Index closed at 12,315.88 up 2%. Essar Oil, HPCL, IOC, Petrnet LNG ended in green.

The BSE IT Index was down 2% at 4,196.49. Wipro, Infosys, I-Flex Solution, HCL Tech, Mphasis closed lower. The NSE cash turnover was at Rs 21033.15 crore and the NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 65894.61 crore.

The BSE cash turnover was Rs 9237.87 crore. Total market wide turnover was at Rs 96165.63 crore.