Markets Trading Flat, Negative; Reliance Down 1.74%

As expected in the pre-market cues, the Indian markets has opened on a flat, negative note weighed down by Reliance Industries, which fell by 1.47% over the allegations from Arvind Kejriwal. Also, there was pressure from Index heavyweights HUL and ITC.  The Sensex and Nifty, are trading  marginally lower by 0.04% and 0.06% respectively.

Among the BSE sectoral indices all the indices except FMCG and Oil & Gas are trading in the positive territory. Consumer Durables, Auto and Realty are trading with leading gains of  2.32%, 1.15% and 1.03% respectively. Other indices like Power, Capital Goods, PSU, Pharma, etc. are also trading higher in the range of 0.31%-0.72%. On the other hand, FMCG and Oil & Gas is down by 0.97% and 0.88% respectively.

The other Asian indices are trading on a strong positive  note after China announced better-than-expected PMI numbers for Oct. The Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai are trading higher by 0.6%, 0.36% and 1.74% respectively. The Chinese manufacturing gauge based on a survey of purchasing managers climbed to 50.2 in Oct 2012 from 49.8 in Sept, adding to signs that growth in the world’s second-biggest economy is rebounding after a seven-quarter slowdown.

Of the Sensex shares, Cipla and Maruti Suzuki are up by 1.57% and 1.16% respectively. Others like Bajaj Auto,  Bharti Airtel, Coal India and Hero MotoCorp are also positive in the range of 0.75%-0.88%. HUL, ITC and Reliance are among the major losers, down by 2.32%, 1.10% and 1.27% respectively.

In individual stocks, index heavyweight HUL is down 2.34% to Rs 534.75 after the company reported lower-than-expected numbers for the Sept 2012 quarter. Low volume growth and high valuations have also kept the stock under pressure.

Titan rose by 7.52% to Rs 278.80 after it reported decent results for the Sept quarter. Although the sales of Titan came in below estimates at Rs 2276 crore, the EBITDA margins expanded mainly due to material costs declining by 0.5%.

VIP Industries is down by 4.49% to Rs 78.90. It reported lower numbers for the quarter. VIP's sales came in 47% lower at Rs 162 crore and the company reports a net loss of Rs 1.8 crore versus PAT of Rs 10.9 crore.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, is positive as of now. On the BSE, 1167 shares have advanced, 697 shares have declined and 102 shares are unchanged.