By Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares were little changed on Monday, as a slide in financials and consumer stocks on lacklustre earnings from key constituents offset gains in metals, while consolidation continued near record-high levels.
The Nifty 50 index was down 0.01% at 19,644.35, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.01% to 66,157.40 at 9:51 a.m. IST.
Six of the 13 major sectoral indexes logged losses with high weightage financials and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks losing over 0.5% each.
Credit card issuer SBI Cards and Payment Services lost as much as 3.73% to a six-month low after reporting a slide in first-quarter profit as elevated credit costs overpowered growth in revenue.
The stock was the top loser among financials.
Beer maker United Breweries fell 1.65%, and led the losses on the FMCG index, after posting a 15% slump in June-quarter profit, dragged by higher excise duty and expenses.
Metals gained 1.25% on rising expectations of a stimulus package from China to revive its economy and signs of easing inflation in the United States.
“This week, the markets will take further cues from ongoing results season and is likely to consolidate in a narrow range,” said Arvinder Singh Nanda, senior vice president at Ludhiana-based broking and investment platform Master Capital Services.
“Any fall close to the 19,500-19,450 levels (on the Nifty) can be seen as an opportunity to build fresh long positions.”
Among the gainers, electricity generator NTPC jumped 3.10% to a more-than-15-year high after reporting a 23% rise in quarterly profit.
It was the top Nifty gainer.
Natural gas distributor GAIL rose 4.47% to a near five-year high after UBS double-upgraded the stock to “buy” from “sell”, citing revenue gains due to revision in tariffs.
($1 = 82.2250 Indian rupees)
(This story has been corrected to change the headquarters of Master Capital Services to “Ludhiana” from “Delhi” in paragraph 7)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Savio D’Souza)
