Sensex down marginally; United Phosphorus slips on weak results

Amid alternate bouts of buying and selling in front line stocks, the market, which had retreated a bit after a fairly good upmove earlier in the day, has eased into the negative zone now.

Though Asian and European markets have posted some gains, the mood on the Indian bourses remains cautious with a slightly negative bias at present, amid worries about the impasse over the delay in framing a bailout package for the european economy.

Concerns about slowing economic growth, high inflation and fears of another round of rate hike are also hurting sentiment to a notable extent.

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At 16,923.49, the Sensex is now down 13.40 points or 0.1% from its previous closing mark. The Nifty is down 4.10 points or 0.08% at 5087.80.

Realty stocks are among the notable losers at present. Metal, information technology and FMCG stocks are mostly subdued. Pharma, bank, automobile and power stocks are off their highs due to stiff resistance. Select consumer durables and capital goods stocks are trading firm.

Bharti Airtel has lost around 2%. DLF and HDFC are down by about 1.5%. Tata Steel is trading lower by 1%. NTPC, Hindalco, Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever, ONGC, Infosys and Cipla are down 0.5% - 0.8%.

Maruti Suzuki is trading firm with a gain of 2.5% following the agitating workers at the Manesar plant of the company calling off their strike. Bajaj Auto and Hero Motocorp are up 1.7% and 1% respectively, while Mahindra & Mahindra is trading higher by 0.85%.

BHEL, State Bank of Inida, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Reliance Industries, Jindal Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consultancy Services, Jaiprakash Associates, Wipro and ITC are up with sharp to moderate gains.

Net profit of Idea Cellular declined 55.45% to Rs. 73.94 crore in the quarter ended September 2011 as against Rs. 165.98 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2010. Sales rose 26.39% to Rs. 4565.36 crore in the quarter ended September 2011 as against Rs. 3612.17 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2010. The stock is down 1.5% at Rs 90.90 at present.

Jain Irrigation Systems, Ambuja Cements, Exide Industries, Jubilant Foodworks, Cairn India, Shree Renuka Sugars, Engineers India, JSW Ispat and Bajaj Holdings are down 1.5% - 3.2%.

United Phosphorus is down with a loss of 3.2% at Rs 140.50. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 36.19 crore for quarter ended September 2011 as compared to Rs 81.36 crore a year ago. Total income increased to Rs. 929.07 crore from Rs 771.28 crore.

JP Infratech is up with a strong gain of 7.8%. Chambal Fertilizers, United Breweries, Manappuram Finance, Castrol India, Titan Industries, GMR Infrastructure, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Apollo Tyres, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra and Thermax are als trading notably higher.

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Hindustan Construction Company has reported standalone net loss of Rs 40.53 crore for quarter ended Septemb 2011 against profit of Rs 12.13 crore a quarter ago. Net sales were at Rs 837.69 crore against Rs 898.50 crore. The stock was at Rs 26.70, down 1.84 per cent on the NSE. It touched a high of Rs 27.25 and low of Rs 25.90 in trade so far. The stock is down 2.6% at Rs 26.60 at present.

Godrej Consumer Products posted net profit of Rs 108.3 crore for quarter ended September 30, 2011 against Rs 109.07 crore in the same period a year ago. Total income was at Rs 781.32 crore as compared to Rs 634.31 crore. The stock is down 1.4% at Rs 404 now.