Markets end flat amid volatility; IT shares weigh

FII stance, progress of monsoon, crude oil and rupee movement are likely to dictate the trend on the bourses

Benchmark share indices ended flat, amid a volatile trading session, after weakness in IT exporters post Brexit capped further upsides.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended up 5 points at 26,403 and the Nifty50 edged up 6 points to settle at 8,095.

However, the broader markets outperformed with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended up 0.8%-1.5% each.

Market breadth ended positive with 1812 gainers and 797 losers on the BSE.

"Markets are likely to remain volatile within a range with support seen at 8,000 for the Nifty and strong resistance seen at 8,300. Companies that have exposure to the UK will have to rework their models either to increase productivity or gain market share to offset headwinds from the falling British currency," said Ajay Bodke, CEO & Chief Portfolio Manager-PMS, Prabhudas Lilladher.

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd, the country's biggest bourse, will file for a domestic initial public offering by January 2017 and also look to file for overseas listing.

The rupee pared intra-day gains against the US dollar.

The Indian currency was up 2 paise at Rs 67.94 to the US dollar compared to the previous close.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India on Monday fixed the reference rate of the rupee at Rs 67.9000 against the US dollar and Rs 74.8801 for the euro.

Global crude oil prices extended losses amid selling pressure post Britain's exit from the EU and weakness in the British pound. Both the Brent and Nymex were trading just above $48 a barrel.

European stocks extended losses on Monday in the aftermath of Brexit. London's FTSE was down 1.2% followed by DAX and CAC down over 1.3% each.

STOCKS

IT exporters were among the top Sensex losers on concerns over demand uncertainty from Europe and volatility in the British pound post the Brexit. TCS which has a substantial exposure to UK was the top loser down over 3% followed by Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies.

FMCG shares gained on hopes of higher rural volume growth after the IMD said that the monsoon rains will retreat later than normal. ITC gained 1.7% while HUL ended flat.

Engineering major L&T ended up 2.2% after the company announced that L&T Construction has won orders worth Rs 2,416 crore.

Bank shares also staged a recovery after losses in the previous session with SBI up over 2.6% followed by ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

Maruti Suzuki ended down over 1% on concerns that increase in import costs and royalty payments amid an appreciating yen would hurt profitability.

Among other shares, Bajaj Finserv rallied 5.6% on reports that the company is likely to buy out its German partner Allianz SE’s stakes in two insurance units—Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.

JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals ended nearly 6% higher after the company said its Panoli tablet manufacturing facility received approval from United States Food and Drug Administration.

Aviation and state-owned oil marketing companies gained amid slide in global crude oil prices. InterGlobe Aviation, Jet Airways and SpiceJet ended up 1% each. IOC, BPCL and HPCL ended up 0.7%-4% each.

Tata Sponge ended nearly 4% higher after the company said it has received a letter-of-intent from Coal India's subsidiary Eastern Coalfields stating that the company has emerged as a successful bidder for award of 24,000 tonnes per annum of coal at a notified price.

Hester Biosciences rallied over 7% after the pharmaceutical company said that it is planning to raise funds by issuing shares via qualified institutional placement.

Aban Offshore ended up 3.7% after the company announced that its arm has received order from Oil Natural Gas Corporation for the deployment of the Drillship Aban Abraham for a firm period of 2 years.