Markets end flat, L&T soars 6%

Markets ended flat amid a volatile trading session on Monday led by engineering major Larsen & Toubro after the company reported better-than-expected second quarter numbers last week.

The 30-share Sensex ended up 11 points at 20,894 and the 50-share Nifty closed 16 points higher at 6,205.

The rupee continued to trade weak due to dollar demand by importers. At 3:50 pm the rupee was trading at Rs 61.44 compared with previous close of Rs 61.27 per dollar.

Asian shares firmed up on Monday, tracking bullish trend on Wall Street, on expectations that the US Fed would postpone its monetary stimulus measures following the recent government shutdown. Tokyo's Nikkei gained 0.9%, Shanghai Composite was up 1.6%, Hang Seng rose 0.4% and Straits Times ended up 0.1%.

BSE FMCG index was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE down 1% followed by IT.

Capital Goods index was the top gainer up 4.3% followed by Realty, Metal, Power, Auto and Bankex up 0.6-3% each.

Engineering major L&T ended up 6%, extending its Friday’s over 4% rally, after construction and engineering giant has reported a good set of numbers for the quarter ended September 2013 (Q2).

The profit after tax for the quarter July-September 2013 grew 7% at Rs 978 crore over the corresponding quarter of the previous year mainly on the back of strong execution performance and higher-than-expected other income. Net sales grew by 10% year-on-year at Rs 14,510 crore during the recently concluded quarter.

Analyst on an average had expected net profit of Rs 880 crore and net sales of Rs 14,222 crore for the quarter.

Index heavyweight Reliance Ind ended up 0.9%. Infosys ended up 0.6%.

Metal shares such as Tata Steel, Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco were among the top Sensex gainers on expectations of demand revival from China after its economy grew at its fastest pace this year for the quarter ended September. China is the world's largest consumer of copper and aluminium.

ITC ended down 2.6% while HDFC Bank slipped nearly 1%. HDFC ended marginally higher after it posted a net profit after tax of Rs 1,266 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 as compared to Rs 1,151 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012.

Total income increased from Rs 5,277 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012 to Rs 5,954 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013.

IT major TCS ended down 2.2% on profit booking at higher levels after recent gains following better-than-expected second quarter earnings.

Among other shares, Alstom T&D India surged 3% after the company announced that it will supply transformers for NTPC's supercritical nabinagar power project.

Pratibha Industries surged 5.8% to end at Rs 23.70 after the company said it has secured an order worth Rs 321.88 crore from PHED (Ajmer), Rajasthan

Federal Bank has surged 10% to end at Rs 78.40 after reporting  better than expected 5% year on year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 226 crore for the quarter ended September 2013 due to lower provisioning for bad loans. Analysts on an average analyst estimated net profit of Rs 149 crore for the quarter.

Asian Paints ended 6.1% higher at Rs 516 after reporting a better than expected  37% year on year (yoy) jump in consolidated net profit after minority interest at Rs 327 crore for the second quarter ended September 2013 (Q2) on back of strong volume growth. The company had profit of Rs 239 crore in a year ago quarter.

The BSE Mid-cap index was up 0.9% and Small-cap index ended 1.3% higher.

Market breadth was strong with 1,448 gainers and 987 losers on the BSE.