Markets remained rangebound with negative bias in noon trades on Monday with auto shares leading the decline on the back of weak October sales while bank shares continued to trade firm.

At 13:00hrs, the 30-share Sensex was down 21 points at 27,845 and the 50-share Nifty was trading 8 points lower at 8,314.

India’s fast growing smartphone market is already under the Android spell with the Google operating system (OS) capturing over 80% of the market. Following closely behind is Apple’s iOS with over 10% of the market. Rest are trudging and trying to reach the mammoth target to include more users under their wing.

It is in these trying times, the Mozilla Foundation has launched its first OS in India with the Intex Cloud FX and the Spice Fire One Mi-FX 1.The firm had already promised in this year’s Mobile World Congress that it would come up with smartphones. It had announced to bring out cheap smartphones at $25 after it sealed a deal with a little-known Chinese firm named Spreadtrum.

Railway-related stocks are witnessing buying interest and trading higher by up to 10% on back of heavy volumes in an otherwise subdued market.

Texmaco Rail & Engineering, Titagarh Wagons, Kalindee Rail Nirman (Engineers), Kernex Microsystems (India) and Stone India are up between 4-10% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). In comparison, the benchmark Sensex was down 0.11% at 27,835.

Benchmark indices are trading weak after paring early morning gains, ahead of a truncated trading week, with gains in information technology and metal shares offsetting some of the losses posted by auto and consumer durable shares.

At 10:30 AM, Sensex was down 17 points at 26,849 while Nifty was down 9 points at 8,313. In the broader market, BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices have gained around 0.8% each. Market breadth is positive with 1,408 gainers, as against 820 declines.

Shares of most of the frontline automobiles companies are trading lower after reporting drop in vehicle sales during the month of October despite of the festive season.

Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), Hero MotoCorp, Eicher Motors and Maruti Suzuki India are down 1-2% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

US philanthropist Bill Gates has announced he will donate over $500 million to fight malaria and other infectious diseases in the developing world, saying the Ebola outbreak is a call to action.

The former Microsoft CEO yesterday told the 63rd annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in New Orleans that his Gates Foundation is committing more than $500 million in 2014 'to reduce the burden of malaria, pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, and an array of parasitic infections that are leading causes of death and disability in developing countries', a statement said.

Benchmark indices are trading flat with a negative bias as the advance in IT shares is being offset by losses in auto shares which are down on weak Ocotber sales data.

At 9:17 AM, Sensex was down 19 points at 27,846 while Nifty was down 8 points at 8315.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) today reported 11.54% increase in total sales at 56,010 units in October 2014.

The company had sold 50,212 units in the same month last year, it said in a statement.

In a glittering ceremony, lawyer-turned-politician Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the 27th chief minister of Maharashtra on Friday. State Governor C Vidyasagar Rao administered him oath of office and secrecy at the Wankhede Stadium packed with more than 35,000 people. Those who were sworn in as Cabinet ministers include Eknath Khadse, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Vinod Tawde, Prakash Mehta, Chandrakant Dada Patil, Pankaja Munde and Vishnu Sawra. Dilip Kamble and Vidya Thakur are ministers of state.

While Fadnavis, Khadse, Mungantiwar, Tawde and Munde are the party’s core committee members, Mehta was inducted to represent the powerful Gujarati community.

Country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today reported a 1.1% decline in total sales in October at 1,03,973 units as against 1,05,087 units in the same month last year.

The company said its domestic sales rose by 1% during the month to 97,069 units as against 96,062 units in October, 2013.

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