Markets end lower on caution over key reforms; IT, real estate bleed

Financial shares were among the top losers while IT shares recovered in late trades.

Benchmark shares indices ended lower on profit taking after sharp gains last week as investors turned cautious ahead of the monsoon session of parliament which starts tomorrow with focus on key bills including GST and land acquisition bill.

Meanwhile, investors will be keenly awaiting first quarter earnings from IT major Infosys tomorrow.

The 30-share Sensex ended down 43 points at 28,420 while the 50-share Nifty ended down 6 points at 8,603.

"Profit booking was seen by investors especially in stocks that had surged last week.

Further, investors were also cautious ahead of the monsoon session of parliament with key bills such as GST and land bill in focus. GST and land bill have become synonymous with the government's ability to push reforms ahead," said Prakash Diwan, Director Altamount Capital Management.

The broader markets outperformed the benchmarks with both the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices ending with marginal gains up 0.3-0.4% each.

Market breadth was positive with 1,397 gainers and 1,211 losers on the BSE.

Rupee

The rupee extended losses and was trading at 63.60 after the American currency fimed up on hopes of an interest rate hike by US Fed later this year.

Gold

Gold has dropped 4% to its lowest in more than five years today as the precious metal witnessed huge selling pressure from China on expectations that the US Fed may hike interest rate later this year.

Gold August futures were down 1.7% at $1,113 in electronic trade today.

Results corner

Ultratech Cements, LIC Housing Finance, Kajaria Ceramics, and Welspun India are expected to announce April-June 2015 quarter earnings today.

Sectors and stocks

BSE Realty index was the top loser among the sectoral indices down 1.9% followed by Metal and Bankex among others. Oil &Gas, Healthcare and IT indices were among the top losers.

Bank shares weakened after some of them announced weak April-June earnings and rise in non-performing assets.

In the banking space, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI ended down 0.3-1.4% each. Karnataka Bank ended nearly 9% down after the bank reported 10% decline in net profit at Rs 109 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 compared with Rs 122 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Federal Bank slipped nearly 7% after the bank reported a 36% year-on-year (YoY) decline in its standalone net profit at Rs 141 crore due to higher provisions for non-performing assets of a large customer. HDFC ended down nearly 1%.

The mortgage lender is planning to raise up to Rs 85,000 crore this fiscal and for the same the company will be seeking shareholders nod in the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held later this month.

Tata Motors ended down 1.9% on concerns of demand slowdown for Jaguar Land Rover cars in China amid slowdown in the world's second largest economy.

HUL ended down 1.2% ahead of its April-June earnings while ITC was down 0.6%. Infosys ended flat with negative bias ahead of its results tomorrow. Bharti Airtel gained 0.7%.

The company is in talks to launch 4G smartphones, the battle has begun between the country’s major telecom operators.

ACC ended down 2.5% after the company reported a 45% year-on-year (YoY) decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 133 crore for the second quarter ended June 30 (Q2), on account of subdued demand.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 243 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Among other shares, jewellery shares have surged amid easing gold prices.Gitanjali Gems, TBZ, Shree Ganesh Jewellery, Renaissance Jewellery, PC Jeweller and Rajesh Exports gained between 2-12%.

Credit Analysis & Research (CARE) ended down nearly 2% after the company reported 34% decline in net profit at Rs 17.49 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 compared with Rs 26.49 crore for the corresponding quarter ended June 30, 2014.

Inox Leisure rallied 16% after the company reported a nearly five-fold jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 25.26 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Q1), on the back of strong operational income. The multiplex operator had posted a profit of Rs 4.58 crore in the year-ago quarter.