The market opened on a weak note this morning due to negative global cues and remained in the red right through the session as participants refrained from picking up stocks even at lower levels. There was some hectic short-covering in select bluechip stocks, but that was not sufficient to pull the market out of the red today.
Realty, auto and metal stocks traded weak right through the session. IT, power, refinery, FMCG and capital goods stocks also closed on a weak note. Select PSU stocks edged higher while bank stocks outperformed the market.
The Sensex, which opened with a negative gap of around 60 points at 9626.07 and slipped to a low of 9502.53 in intra-day trades, closed at 9568.72 with a sharp loss of 118.03 points or 1.22%. The Nifty ended 1.74% or 51.80 points down at 2916.85. In intra-day trades today, the Nifty touched a low of 2900.45. The market remained volatile right through the session.
Though a few side counters attracted attention, it was not a good session for midcap and smallcap stocks as well. The market breadth remained weak. When trade ended, out of 2509 stocks seen in action on the BSE, 1502 stocks were down in the negative territory. 915 stocks closed with gains and 92 stocks ended flat.
Tata Motors went down by as much as 8.65% to Rs 159.65. Tata Consultancy Services (down 4.45%) and Wipro (down 4.3%) ended with sharp losses despite enjoying a bright spell in the positive territory earlier. ACC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Communications lost 4% – 4.25%.
Satyam Computer Services, which plunged to Rs 114.65 this morning as the ban imposed on the company by the World Bank triggered a massive sell-off, bounced back on short-covering and ended lower by just around 3.85% at Rs 134.95.
Bharti Airtel and ITC lost a little over 3%. Sterlite Industries, ONGC, DLF, Grasim Industries, Jaiprakash Associates, Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Infrastructure, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro lost 1% – 3%. BHEL, HDFC, Infosys Technologies, NTPC and Tata Power also ended weak.
ICICI Bank (3.3%), State Bank of India (1.8%), HDFC Bank (0.65%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (1.25%) closed on a firm note. Hindustan Unilever finished with a small gain.
Unitech lost over 12% on sustained selling today. HCL Technologies ended lower by around 7%. Reliance Petroleum, SAIL, Reliance Power, Nalco, Idea Cellular, ABB, Ambuja Cements, Siemens, Zee Entertainment, Power Grid Corporation and GAIL India also closed with sharp losses.
BPCL moved up by over 5%. Suzlon Energy, Cairn India and Tata Communications also closed on a high note. Hero Honda and Punjab National Bank finished with notable gains.
KSK Energy, Jet Airways, IRB Infrastructure, OnMobile Global, United Spirits, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Financial Services, India Bulls Financial Services, Godrej Industries, RECL, Power Finance Corporation, Areva, Gujarat Minerals, Indian Bank, Renuka Sugars, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Nagarjuna Construction Company and Bank of Baroda ended with impressive gains today.
HDIL, Lanco Infratech, GTL Infrastructure, Tech Mahindra, India Bulls Real Estate, Gujarat Petronet, Jai Corp, Chambal Fertilizers, Bajaj Holdings, Essar Oil, Omaxe, India Infoline, MphasiS and Shipping Corporation of India declined sharply.
Courtesy: Sify.com
