Mumbai: Indian shares took a breather on Monday and closed marginally in red on profit booking after hitting fresh 2.5 year highs. Pharma companies dragged key equity benchmarks lower while major auto stocks ended in green. The Sensex closed at 20223.98, down 62 points or 0.31 per cent and the Nifty ended at 6156.90 down 30 points or 0.49 percent. About 1107 shares advanced, 1298 shares declined, and 141 shares were unchanged.
Macquarie's Head of Research Rakesh Arora sees the Nifty hitting 6900 by this year end. Arora is hopeful of the capital expenditure cycle picking up from the second half of this financial year. In the infrastructure space, Arora is bullish on Cummins. In the banking space, he likes SBI and Axis Bank, and among autos, his top bets are Maruti and Tata Motors.
Key gainers in the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Mahindra and Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Coal India, up over a percent each. Laggards included Ranbaxy Labs, Lupin, Jaiprakash Associates, Bharti Airtel and ONGC, down between 2 to 6 percent.
Pharma stocks were severely hit today. Glaxo SmithKline Pharma, Cadila Healthcare, Cipla and Ranbaxy are likely to be negatively impacted from the new drug price control order (DPCO) says broking firm HSBC.
Auto stocks were biggest gainers of the day. Shares of Maruti surged to fresh year high on further weakness in yen while M&M rallied to record highs after its arm Ssangyong Motor Company touched 16-month high.
In the midcap space, shares of Himadri Chemicals, Voltamp Transformers, Thomas Cook, KSK Energy Ventures, MTNL, Motherson Sumi, Bajaj Finance and GSFC gained between 5 to 20 percent.
The Indian rupee was trading at 2.5 month low in the late afteroon trade. Traders say good demand for the greenback from oil importers and gold firms hurting the rupee, reported Reuters.
In the primary market, Just Dial IPO opened for subscription today. The issue price range is Rs. 470 - 543 and the discount to retail investors is Rs. 47 (10 per cent to the floor price). The issue will close for subscription on May 22.
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