Markets open slightly lower; heavyweights drag

Business

oi-Sunil

By Sunil Fernandes

Published: Thursday, November 1, 2012, 9:35 [IST]

Markets opened the day marginally lower, dragged down by heavyweights including ONGC, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Industries.

The Sensex was trading lower by 41 points, while the Nifty was trading lower by 12 points at 9.30 am IST. Shares of Wipro gained more than 1% in trade today following reports of the de-merger of its lighting and consumer business.

Banking stocks continued to remain subdued with State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank all losing marginal ground. PSU banks were trading mixed with Allahabad Bank, State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank losing ground, while Canara Bank, IOB and Bank of India were trading with gains.

Among the gainers from the Nifty stocks were Wipro, Tata Motors, Power Grid and Reliance Infra. Shares of FMCG companies that had rallied sharply continued to lose with HUL dropping more than 1%, while ITC lost 0.65%.

Hindalco industries which had jumped more than 5% on Wednesday, was trading flat at Rs 116, while Maruti continued its upward momentum and gained 0.56%.

Meanwhile, shares in Asia were trading mixed with Hong Kong's Hang Sang, Japanese Nikkei and the Chinese Shanghai Composite gaining, while the Singapore's Strait Times and Korean Kospi were trading with losses.

Markets are expected to continue trading in a range and track global cues in the short term.

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