Mid-caps lose nearly 1%, Sensex closes flat

Mumbai: Growth worries following the dismal second-quarter GDP numbers led most stocks to end lower on Monday which was most visible in the broader markets as the BSE mid-cap index lost nearly 1 per cent.

The benchmark, Sensex, however, ended the day flat owing to the gains made by index-heavyweight Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries (RIL). The gaines came after the telcos raised tariffs by up to 40 per cent, one of the sharpest ever hikes.

Auto stocks lost the most on Monday as the November sales figures showed little signs of recovery in the sector. Eicher Motors lost over 5 per cent, TVS Motor closed over 2 per cent lower and Maruti Suzuki declined 1 per cent in trading.

The benchmark Sensex ended the day at 40,802.17, while the Nifty settled at 12,048.20. Of the 50 Nifty50 scrips only 20 managed to log gains while remaining 30 declined.

"Despite positive sentiment in the global market due to better than expected manufacturing data in China, the domestic market traded range bound on account of weak GDP and auto sales, and ahead of the RBI's monetary policy this week," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The market hopes for further government stimulus and ease in interest rates to revive the slowing economy, he said.

Weakness was broad-based, while telecom stocks jumped on account of aggressive tariff revision, he added.

Earlier on Monday, the IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed a higher index reading of 51.2 in November 2019 over the 50.6 reported for October. An index reading above 50 indicates an overall increase in economic activity, or growth, and below 50, an overall decrease.

"Indian manufacturing production increased only moderately in November, albeit at a quicker rate than October's two-year low," the IHS Markit report said.

Last week, the National Statistical Office (NSO) data showed that India's GDP growth rate for the July-September quarter slipped to a six-year low of 4.5 per cent owing to a sharp decline in manufacturing activity, which contracted by one per cent.