Sensex falls for 5th day on inflation woes; Sesa soars 4.5%

The market has seen consolidation on Monday ahead of two big events this week - RBI policy and Federal Reserve meeting, though it fell for the fifth consecutive session. The Sensex dropped 56.06 points to close at 20,659.52, and the Nifty fell 13.70 points to 6,154.70, but the broader markets outperformed.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained over 0.3 percent. Experts believe the consolidation may continue for another day, may be till the announcement of RBI policy due on Wednesday because this and Federal Reserve policy meet (on December 17-18) are the two major triggers in near term. They expect the central bank to hike repo rate by 25 basis points as inflation reached to 14-month high at 7.52 percent in November as against 7 percent in earlier month.

''It is just a pause. We are into a euphoric zone as far as equity is concerned. A lot depends on the Reserve Bank of India as well, because RBI has been in a very expansionist mode since the new governor came in, Ajay Srivastava, CEO of Dimensions Consulting said. Meanwhile, Sajjid Z Chinoy, Chief India Economist, JPMorgan expects the central bank to hike rates by 25 basis points with hawkish guidance.

One should brace for more rate hikes if food inflation doesn't ease going ahead, he said. In case of second event, experts' opinions were mixed as some believe the tapering by Fed may start in December itself while others say it may be after March 2014. Peter Elston, Head of Asia Pacific Strategy and Asset Allocation at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia believes taper will be later than market expectation. According to him, the US economy is still not strong enough to justify tapering.

Shares of Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra and Mahindra and Jindal Steel fell between 2-3 percent. HDFC, HDFC Bank, ONGC and Tata Steel declined more than 1 percent.

However, Sesa Sterlite bucked the trend, rising 4.5 percent on reports that Karnataka Mines secretary said the company may get state nod to restart mines operations soon. Technology stocks saw buying interest, may be ahead of third quarter earnings that will kick off in second week of January 2014.

Infosys, which touched 3-year high today, rose 2.25 percent on closing while Wipro climbed 1 percent that hit 13-year high. TCS rose 0.7 percent. JP Morgan is neutral on the stock, but it raised target on the stock to Rs 2,300 from Rs 2,100 apiece. "TCS is trading at 15 percent premium to Infosys' target multiple of 16.5 times and exhibits better revenue growth profile than Infosys," JP Morgan reasoned. Among others, Coal India, ICICI Bank and Tata Power were up 1-2 percent. In the broader space, GSK Pharma was the star, gaining 18.6 percent to Rs 2,927.40 after hitting a record high of Rs 2,952. Parent company GlaxoSmithKline plc announced a voluntary open offer to increase stake in its Indian subsidiary GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, from 50.7 percent to up to 75 percent at a price of Rs 3,100 per share.

SpiceJet surged 7.6 percent to Rs 16.90 apiece after the company announced a three-year, interline agreement with Singapore-based Tigerair, a move that is expected to increase the carrier's load factor.

03:30pm Market Update The market closed lower for the fifth consecutive session on Monday. The Sensex fell 50.14 points to 20,665.44, and the Nifty lost 13.70 points to 6,154.70. About 1092 shares have advanced, 1312 shares declined, and 183 shares are unchanged.

03:25pm Nikkei closes lower Japan's Nikkei share average fell 1.6 percent to a 3-1/2-week closing low, hit by selling in futures and index-heavyweight stocks as investors braced for possible tapering in monetary stimulus by the US Federal Reserve this week. The Nikkei shed 250.20 points to end at 15,152.91, the lowest closing level since November 20. The Topix shed 1.3 percent to 1,222.95, with all of its 33 sub-sectors in negative territory, reports Reuters.

03:20pm Tata Chemicals weakens Shares of Tata Chemicals fell 1 percent after the Reserve Bank of India placed a cap on further foreign institutional investments in the company. The Reserve Bank of India on Friday said share holdings by foreign institutional investors in Tata Chemicals had reached the trigger limit and further purchases of equity shares would be allowed only with the central bank's prior approval. The RBI regularly prevents foreign institutional investors from buying shares in companies if they are approaching the limit stipulated by regulations and will then re-adjust once foreign ownership falls below the prescribed level, reports Reuters.

03:10pm Market Update The 50-share NSE Nifty touched 6150 level amid selling pressure in last hour of trade, falling 17 points while the 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 76 points to 20,639.13. Shares of Reliance Industries , Mahindra and Mahindra , Sun Pharma , Bharti Airtel and Jindal Steel dropped 2-3 percent. HDFC, HDFC Bank , ONGC and Tata Steel lost more than 1 percent. However, Sesa Sterlite rallied more than 4 percent followed by Infosys and Tata Power with a 2 percent gain. Meanwhile, the rupee breached the 62 level, appreciating 15 paise to 61.97 against the US dollar.

02:50pm Inflation at 14-month high The wholesale price index (WPI) for the month of November shot up to a 14-month high of 7.52 percent from 7 percent in the previous month, led by higher primary, food  and fuel prices. The street was largely expecting the November WPI to stay at 7 percent. The September WPI number has also been revised upwards at 7.05 percent from the provision figure of 6.46 percent. The biggest culprit remains food inflation which accelerated to 19.93 percent in November from 18.19 percent in October. The primary articles inflation for the month rose to 15.92% versus 14.68% in October. Food inflation had caused a similar spike in the consumer price index (CPI), which came in at 11.24 percent in November. Given the composition of the inflation, the Reserve Bank is expected to hike repo rate by 25 bps to combat soaring prices. The RBI will announce its monetary policy on November 18 and experts say the market has more or less priced in a 25 bps rate hike. Given that Raghuram Rajan's top priority is to tackle inflation, Sajjid Z Chinoy, Chief India Economist, JPMorgan expects the central bank to hike rates by 25bps with hawkish guidance. One should brace for more rate hikes if food inflation doesn't ease going ahead, he said. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Chief Economic Adviser, SBI also foresees a 25bps rate hike on December 18.

02:40pm GSK Pharma in focus London-listed GlaxoSmithKline plc announced a voluntary open offer to increase its stake in its publicly-listed pharmaceuticals subsidiary in India, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals , from 50.7 percent to up to 75 percent at a price of Rs 3,100 per share. GSK added that it intends to keep the company listed, which means it will not hike its stake any further after the open offer. Securities regulations in India require a minimum public shareholding of 25 percent for a company to maintain a public listing. The open offer, in which the parent firm intends to buy 2,06,09,774 shares, or 24.3%, of the company, represents a premium of about 26 percent of the stock's closing price on December 13. GSK Pharmaceuticals was trading at Rs 2,932, up 18.78 percent after hitting a record high of Rs 2,952.

02:00pm The market is consistently hovering around its previous closing value as it is looking for a trigger to get direction on either side. In the near term, the market is likely get cue from RBI policy due on Wednesday and Federal Reserve's meeting on December 17-18. The Sensex rose 10.65 points to 20,726.23, and the Nifty advanced 3.10 points to 6,171.50. Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones by ratio of 1221 to 1001 on the BSE. Contrary to market expectation, Richard Gibbs of Macquarie Securities does not expect the US Federal Reserve to alter its stance on the monetary policy at the moment. He feels the Fed will want to see more data before taking a call. He has a 50 percent probability on March 2014 for the commencement of tapering. He says the delay in tapering will obviously help emerging markets in terms of fund flows. He expects India to enter the New Year in a fairly well supported way and with a reasonably right position in terms of capital accounts and capital inflow. Sesa Sterlite is the top gainer in the Sensex, rising 5 percent followed by Infosys with a 2.35 percent gain. In fact, Infosys touched a three-year high of Rs 3,464 apiece today. Shares of ICICI Bank , TCS , Larsen and Toubro , Coal India and Maruti Suzuki gained 1-1.5 percent. However, the laggards are Reliance Industries, ITC , Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, ONGC, Mahindra and Mahindra and Hindustan Unilever that fell between 0.6-2 percent.

01:50pm Infosys, Wipro at multi-year highs Shares of Infosys rallied as much as 2.7 percent intraday today to touch high of Rs 3,464, highest level since January 7, 2011. The stock is still away its all-time high of Rs Rs 3,495.   In fact, all technology stocks are seeing buying interest today. Its rival Wipro rose 1.3 percent intraday to touch high of Rs 525.30, highesl level since April 2000.

01:40pm Linde India commissions unit at Rourkela plant Linde India says it has commissioned one of the 853 tonnes per day air separation units (ASU) at Rourkela steel plant and the second 853 tonnes per day ASU is in final stages of commissioning. Pursuant to a long term gas supply contract entered into with Steel Authority of India in the year 2009 for supply of 2600 tpd of oxygen, nitrogen and argon gases to meet the customer's incremental demand arising from the expansion of their steel making capacity at Rourkela, Linde India had undertaken construction of two 853 tonnes per day ASU at Rourkela steel plant of SAIL. The stock gained 1 percent.

01:30pm Clariant Chemicals in focus Shares of Clariant Chemicals slipped 1.5 percent on profit booking. The board of directors of the company today approved the proposal for acquisition of masterbatch business from Vadodara-based Plastichemix Industries for Rs 135 crore. The effective date for acquisition is planned to be Q1, 2014. The board also considered the proposal for sale of the business of leather services, for a net consideration of Rs 156 crore.

01:20pm M&M talks to CNBC-TV18 post price hike across products Mahindra and Mahindra increased prices by 2 percent across its product range a couple of days ago to offset hike in raw material prices, transport and other costs. Pravin Shah, Chief Executive-Automotive Division, M&M, says the price increase varies from 0.5-2 percent. He says the price increases will help to protect and maintain margins at around 11 percent, going forward. It will be difficult to delineate timeline of next price hike, he adds. According to him, many promotional schemes have been announced in December to push sales as the auto industry is going through a tough time.

01:10pm JP Morgan on TCS JP Morgan is neutral on IT major TCS, but it raised target on the stock to Rs 2,300 from Rs 2,100 apiece. "TCS is trading at 15 percent premium to Infosys' target multiple of 16.5 times and exhibits better revenue growth profile than Infosys," JP Morgan reasoned. Shares of Tata Consultancy Services rose 1.11 percent to Rs 2,025.05 on the BSE.

01:00pm Equity benchmarks are directionless in afternoon trade. The market is likely to take cue from two important events of the week RBI policy and Federal Reserve meeting. The Sensex declined 32.49 points to 20,683.09, and the Nifty slipped 12.50 points to 6,155.90. Dhananjay Sinha, Emkay Global Financial Services believes the market has peaked out post Assembly elections and the key factors that are likely to affect now are the domestic data and the possibility around tapering. The US Federal Reserve will be announcing its policy this week and most investors believe there may be a mild pullback of the monetary stimulus after better-than-expected US jobs data at the beginning of the month. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Sinha says that Lok Sabha elections are six months away and therefore, they are unlikely to impact the market in the near-term. WPI inflation for Novemebr rose to 7.52 percent, 14-month high, from 7 percent in October. September WPI also revised higher to 7.05 percent from the provisional 6.46 percent. ITC, Aurobindo Pharma, State Bank of India, Torrent Pharma, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Infosys, HCL Technologies, TCS and HDFC Bank are most active shares.

12:50pm SpiceJet spikes 7% SpiceJet announced a three-year, interline agreement with Singapore-based Tigerair, a move that is expected to increase the carrier's load factor. An interline agreement involves issuing tickets for passengers with multi-airline itinerary for the partner carrier. However, unlike a codeshare agreement, in an interline pact, the issuing airline will not stamp its code on the partner carrier's flight. The deal is expected to remain non-financial and no equity investment would be made by Tigerair, the company said. The Singapore-based low-cost airline, Tigerair, operates in several countries in the Asia Pacific region.

12:40pm GlaxoSmithKline Pharma on buyers' radar The stock rallied as much as 19.6 percent intraday today to touch a record high of Rs 2,952 apiece after parent company GlaxoSmithKline plc announced a voluntary open offer.   London-listed GlaxoSmithKline plc aims to increase its stake in its publicly-listed pharmaceuticals subsidiary in India, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals , from 50.7 percent to up to 75 percent at a price of Rs 3,100 per share through open offer. GSK added that it intends to keep the company listed, which means it will not hike its stake any further after the open offer. Securities regulations in India require a minimum public shareholding of 25 percent for a company to maintain a public listing. The open offer, in which the parent firm intends to buy 2,06,09,774 shares, or 24.3 percent, of the company, represents a premium of about 26 percent of the stock's closing price on December 13. The transaction will be funded through GSK's existing cash resources, will be earnings neutral for the first year and accretive thereafter and will not impact expectations for the group's long-term share buyback programme, the parent company said. Meanwhile, Ajay Srivastava, CEO of Dimensions Consulting recommends subscribing to the GSK Pharma open offer as he believes the drug major will look at delisting eventually.

12:30pm Movers and Shakers Shares of ITC and Hindustan Unilever declined 0.9 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. In the oil and gas space, Reliance Industries and ONGC slipped more than a percent. Among metals, Jindal Steel dropped 3 percent followed by Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries with a 1.6 percent loss. Housing finance company HDFC and private sector lender HDFC Bank lost over 0.4 percent. However, shares of Infosys and Sesa Sterlite bucked the trend, rising 2 percent each. TCS , ICICI Bank and Larsen and Toubro gained 1 percent each.

12:20pm Fed tapering possible in December? Markets across the world may be expecting the US Federal Reserve to begin tapering from this month, but Peter Elston, Head of Asia Pacific Strategy and Asset Allocation, Aberdeen Asset Management Asia, believes taper will be later than market expectation. He says the US economy is still not strong enough to justify tapering. He does not see any meaningful recovery in private sector demand in the US. He believes this is the reason why Aberdeen is more optimistic about equities than others. As far as the Indian market goes, he is not allocating any fresh capital to it. "With respect to our Indian holdings we have maintained the weighting for our funds that are managed against MSCI Asia-pacific ex-Japan benchmark," he says.

12:10pm Godrej Consumer talks to CNBC-TV18 FMCG giant Godrej Consumer is confident that the sector will continue its outperformance. Chairman Adi Godgej is hopeful of seeing an uptick in the urban demand and the rural demand is expected to be strong due to good harvest. ''The FMCG sector has performed reasonably well in the last several years, even in the years when the GDP growth has been slow. We expect strong growth in the next three-five years too, he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. Continuing his upbeat tone, Godrej said that the economic slowdown story is now behind us and one has started seeing a turnaround in urban India. The company's domestic business in the second quarter of FY14 grew at 17 percent, year-on-year (Y-o-Y). Globally, it clocked a consolidated sales growth of 23 percent. Further, he doesn't see company's margins coming under pressure going ahead, due to heavy investments it has made in advertisements.  Meanwhile, the company has recently increased stake in 'B:Blunt' to understand salon business better. Godrej Consumer aims to grow 10 times in the next 10 years.

12:00pm It is a listless trade on Monday as investors are waiting for RBI policy and FOMC meeting before taking further positions in the market. Former policy will be announced on Wednesday morning while latter policy will be declared on same day in midnight. Analysts expect 25 basis points hike in repo rate while in case of Fed, there is less chance of tapering, say analysts. The Sensex fell 42.58 points to 20,673.00, and the Nifty declined 16.75 points to 6,151.65. According to central statistical department, WPI inflation for November stood at 7.52 percent, which is higher compared to October inflation and CNBC-TV18 poll of 7 percent. Most active shares are Aurobindo Pharma , Torrent Pharma , GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, Tata Steel, SBI , HCL Technologies , Infosys and TCS.

11:54am Stocks In News Shares of SpiceJet spiked 8 percent after the company announced MoU with Tigerair. It has signed three-year interline agreement with Tigerair. Heidelberg Cement India rose 1.4 percent ahead of its board meeting to consider issuance and allotment of the debentures aggregating to Rs 370 crore on private placement basis, to its non-resident parent/group. Clariant Chemicals advanced 1.5 percent as it is mulling sale of leather operations and also acquisition of Masterbatches businesss today.

11:44am Rate hike possible? Samiran Chakraborty, head of Research, Standard Chartered Bank says that the RBI is likely to hike rate by 25 basis points rather than 50 basis points, as the main reason for the exceptionally high CPI data was the adverse impact of hurricane Phailin, which resulted in high month-over-month increase of upto 80 bps in affected states. ''If that is true then actually the CPI should have been around 10.4 percent which is still very high, but probably not as high as 11.24 percent which would warrant a 50 bps hike. So in a nutshell, I think a 25 bps should be good enough. There is no requirement for a 50 bps hike at this point of time,'' he adds.

11:34am TTK Prestige talks to CNBC-TV18 Pressure cooker manufacturer TTK Prestige, which had been amongst Motilal Oswal's top 100 wealth creators since 2008, has been facing a troublesome for last two quarters due to acute power problem in Tamil Nadu. The company is expecting a 10 percent revenue growth for FY14, which could be a challenge considering for the first half of the year the growth stood at 2 percent. ''Diwali was very bad, largely because of the base effect. Last year, due to six cylinder cap of the subsidised gas by the government, our induction and induction-related products were doing well. After the government withdrew that, the sale of the induction cooker has come down, so because of that the base effect will come down,'' said TT Jagannathan, Chairman, TTK Prestige, on CNBC-TV18. The management said the margins are likely to remain under pressure going forward and may fall by 50bps/year in 3-4 years.  The company's Q2 EBITDA margin declined 200bps and the gross margin declined by 300 bps.

11:24am November WPI Inflation today   Today all eyes will be on the wholesale inflation data. There's unlikely to be any relief with November WPI inflation seen sustaining at 7 percent levels of last month. After the consumer price index (CPI) data came in above what the street was working with , there is an upside potential or risk that the WPI inflation will come worse than expectations.  WPI for November is expected to sustain at the eight month high it touched in October led by high primary, fuel inflation. WPI estimates for November stand at 7 percent versus 7 percent, month-on-month. The range for WPI is seen between 6.8 to 7.2 percent.

11:14am State Bank of India pays advance tax State Bank of India has paid total global income tax of Rs 1,346 crore in the third quarter of financial year 2013-14. "This includes Rs 1,130 crore paid as third instalment of advance tax in India for the financial year 2013-14 (corresponding figure for FY2012-13 was Rs  1,701 crore) and a further sum of Rs 216 crore paid at the bank's foreign offices during September-November 2013," the bank said.

11:04am The market is directionless in morning trade on Monday, but the broader markets outperformed benchmarks. Market seems to have lost some of its fizz since the initial euphoria around the state election results. It is just taking a pause, says Ajay Srivastava, CEO, Dimensions Consulting. The Sensex advanced 5.19 points to 20,720.77 while the Nifty fell 0.50 points to 6,167.90. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 0.35 percent each. Jindal Steel is the biggest loser in the Sensex, falling 3 percent followed by Hero Motocorp , Mahindra and Mahindra , Tata Steel , ONGC and Hindalco Industries with a 1-2 percent loss. Index heavyweights ITC and Reliance Industries slipped more than half a percent. However, the gainers are Infosys , ICICI Bank , Larsen and Toubro and Sesa Sterlite that surged 1-2 percent.

10:55am SpiceJet flies 8% The company announced a three-year, interline agreement with Singapore-based Tigerair, a move that is expected to increase the carrier's load factor. An interline agreement involves issuing tickets for passengers with multi-airline itinerary for the partner carrier. However, unlike a codeshare agreement, in an interline pact, the issuing airline will not stamp its code on the partner carrier's flight. The deal is expected to remain non-financial and no equity investment would be made by Tigerair, the company said. The Singapore-based low-cost airline, Tigerair, operates in several countries in the Asia Pacific region.

10:50am Market Expert Market seems to have lost some of its fizz since the state elections. It is just taking a pause, says Ajay Srivastava, CEO, Dimensions Consulting. He feels the government needs to push for growth now and if the Reserve Bank too continues with its expansionary policy then the index is likely to move higher. He advises investors to book profits regularly given the market volatility. He recommends subscribing to the GSK Pharma open offer as he believes the drug major will look at delisting eventually. Infact not just GSK, he feels companies with MNC parents will eventually delist. He, however, cautions against buying in euphoria.

10:40am Stocks In News Elder Oharma lost 7.5 percent and Torrent Pharma declined 1.2 percent after latter decided to buy former's domestic branded formulation business for Rs 2,000 crore. Credit Suisse maintains its neutral stance on Torrent with a target price of Rs 407. "Acquisition of Elder Pharma does not change its view but it will be earnings per share dilutive for the first two years with the net debt / equity increasing to 1.3 times with further acquisitions ruled out for the next 3-4 years," the brokerage house report said. Analysts are worried about the residual business of Elder Pharma which includes low margin API and European business, and lack of clarity on money that Elder will receive and how it will be utilised.

10:30am FII View Bharat Iyer of JP Morgan believes the bond market, which is relatively closed to foreign investors, is reflecting the stress in the local economy, while the equity market, which is more open to foreign investors, is reflecting benign global liquidity. "Against this backdrop, the US Fed's stance on QE tapering assumes significance. Global macro team is currently calling for tapering to begin in January 2014," he adds.

10:20am China PMI data China's manufacturing activity slowed to a three-month low in December, a survey from HSBC showed Monday. The HSBC flash purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 50.5 for the month, compared to 50.8 in November. Growth in new order and new export orders increased at a faster rate, while employment decreased at a faster rate. Still, the figure has remained above the 50 mark, which demarcates expansion from contraction, for five months now, reports Reuters.

10:10am GSK Pharma open offer Shares of GSK Pharma gained 18.86 percent at Rs 2,933.95 apiece after London-listed parent company GlaxoSmithKline plc announced a voluntary open offer to increase its stake in its publicly-listed pharmaceuticals subsidiary in India, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Limited. It aims to raise stake from 50.7 percent to up to 75 percent at a price of Rs 3,100 per share. The open offer, in which the parent firm intends to buy 2,06,09,774 shares, or 24.3%, of the company, represents a premium of about 26 percent of the stock's closing price on December 13.

10:00am The market is consolidating today after falling 281 points in last week. Investors are keenly waiting for announcements from RBI policy and Federal Reserve meeting on December 18. The Sensex rose 13.15 points to 20,728.73, and the Nifty gained 3.85 points at 6,172.25. About 679 shares have advanced, 517 shares declined, and 59 shares are unchanged. Shares of Infosys , ICICI Bank , TCS and Larsen and Toubro gained between 1-2 percent. However, the laggards are Reliance Industries , ITC , Tata Motors , HDFC Bank , ONGC , Mahindra and Mahindra and Sun Pharma . A unanimous view that emerged in a conversation with Manish Raychaudhari of BNP Paribas and Sushil Kedia, Director – Quantative Strategies, CIMB, is that equities are more likely to head lower than higher in the near future. After the Indian market took out fresh highs on the back of a slew of improving macroeconomic pointers and greater certainty on the political front, the stronger-than-expected inflation data is expected to prompt the Reserve Bank of India to up key rates at its meeting next week, Raychaudhari said in an interview with CNBC-TV18. ''I would say that maybe a 5-7 percent correction from the present levels would possibly be on the cards.'' Raychaudhari was less concerned about the possibility of the Federal Reserve deciding to wind down its massive stimulus program and said indicators are the central bank would likely be cautious till it was sure US economic growth had firmly come back.

09:45am FIIs turn sellers on Friday Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Indian shares worth Rs 432 crore on Friday, to snap their 10-day buying streak, exchange and regulatory data shows. FIIs also sold index futures worth Rs 902 crore and stock futures worth Rs 676 crore on Friday, exchange data shows. The selling is sparking fears that stocks may extend last week's decline if foreign liquidity support weakens, especially as the market turns cautious ahead of the central bank's policy review and the US Federal Reserve meet later this week, reports Reuters.

9:30am FII View Rakesh Arora of Macquarie says RBI and Fed policy announcements this week will be key triggers for the market. He expects volatility to continue but downside is limited. According to him, post the euphoria of election results, the market has been on tenterhooks given rising expectation of QE tapering. ''To make matters worse, CPI inflation came in at 11.2 percent, much above the consensus expectation last week,'' he adds.

9:15am The market slips marginally in early trade on Monday following weakness seen in its Asian counterparts on uncertainty over timing of scaling back US fiscal stimulus by Federal Reserve. The Sensex declined 23.51 points to 20,692.07, and the Nifty slipped 7.20 points to 6,161.20. HDFC Bank, ITC, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Sun Pharma, Jindal Steel, BHEL and Hero MotoCorp declined between 0.4-1.4 percent. However, the gainers are TCS, ICICI Bank, Coal India, Sesa Sterlite, ONGC, Tata Steel and Dr Reddy's Labs. Shares of GSK Pharma surged 19 percent to Rs 2,932.90 apiece after its London-listed parent company GlaxoSmithKline plc announced a voluntary open offer to increase its stake in Indian subsidiary from 50.7 percent to up to 75 percent at a price of Rs 3,100 per share. Meanwhile, Indian rupee opened flat at 62.15 per dollar on Monday as against Friday's closing value of 62.12 per dollar. Agam Gupta, Standard Chartered feels the rupee may show sharp moves if the WPI inflation number differs sharply from expectations. "The FOMC and RBI policy will be important cues for this week. The range for the day is seen between 61.95-62.35/dollar," he adds. Asian markets are in the red ahead of a crucial Fed policy meet later this week. China HSBC PMI fell to a 3-month low.