Sensex facing resistance above 27,000; ITC up 1.5%

Markets continued to trade lower in noon trades on Monday weighed down by profit taking in IT and pharma majors.

At 12:50PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 107 points at 26,983 and the 50-share Nifty was down 41 points at 8,080.

The rupee was trading flat at Rs 60.78 to the US dollar compared to Friday's close of Rs 60.80. Traders say the drop in NDF forwards is hurting sentiment for the USD/INR pair. Gains in the dollar versus major currencies will prevent a sharp fall. Dollar is trading at six-year high versus the yen.

Asian shares were trading lower on Monday as investors turned cautious ahead of key economic data from China. China's flash manufacturing PMI data is due for release on Tuesday. A reading below 50 would indicate signs of contraction in manufacturing.

Japanese shares witnessed profit taking and the benchmark Nikkei ended down 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite dropped 1.7% while Hang Seng dropped 1.3%. Further, shares in Singapore were trading with marginal losses with the benchmark Straits Times down 0.2%.

European shares were also trading lower in early trades tracking losses of their Asian counterparts and after the group of finance ministers and central bank chiefs (G-20) which met in Australia flagged concerns of slowing growth in the continent. The FTSE, DAX and CAC-40 were down 0.3-0.5% each.

The BSE Metal and Healthcare indices were the top losers while FMCG and Consumer Durables indices were the top gainers.

Consumer Durables Index was up 2.4% on expectation of demand ahead of the festive season

Titan is trading with a gain of 1.40% and Blue Star with a gain of 0.54%. The biggest gainer in this sector is PC Jeweller with a gain of 13.40%

Auto Index gained 0.4%. Tata motors is trading with a gain of 2.6% as analysts have remained on bullish on the stoc

Hero MotoCorp trimmed some of its early gains and was up 0.9%.

Bajaj Auto was trading flat following Delhi HC rejection of the PIL arguing for a ban on quadricycles.

ONGC was up 1.4% following the announcement that it will begin oil production from KG Block in 2019

Among Auto majors, Maruti Suzuki is down 1.3%. It may be recalled that last week its Chief Operating Officer, Mayank Pareek had resigned.

After strong performance during last week pharma stocks have come under pressure due to profit booking.

Cipla is trading with a loss of 2.5% and Dr Redy's Lab is in the red with 1.36% decline.

Also, profit booking in IT stocks after they posted gains in the range of one to four percent last week has kept their stocks bogged down.

Infosys and TCS are among the biggest losers with a decline of 1.5% and 0.9%, respectively.

Among other shares, Force Motors has soared nearly 13% to Rs 1,124, also its record high on BSE, on back of heavy volumes.

Hotel Leela Venture recovered from its early lows and was down 1.5%. Earlier, the stock had dropped over 7% on reports that the company it has not been able to pay Rs 22.50 crore as the first installment for servicing a debt to state-owned life insurer LIC and is seeking more time for repayment.

Kitex Garments has surged 19% to Rs 486 ahead of its board meeting today to review the performance of the company.

In the broader market,the BSE Mid-cap was up 0.1% and Small-cap index gained 0.6%.

Market breadth was positive with 1,479 gainers and 1,291 losers on the BSE.