The bears once again dominated as the Sensex lost 0.63% and NSE Nifty was down 0.56%. The markets which registered positive opening tracking strong global cues lost ground in the later half of the trading session as profit booking got the bears rolling on bourses. Also, sentiments were dampened on the street after Finance Minister Chidambaram asked industry not to take advantage of growing demand to increase prices as higher inflation would hurt them in the long-run.
Capital Good, Technology and Auto index led the down fall and concerns on rising inflation rates further dragged the benchmark index to hit a low of 13493.48. ICICI Bank, ONGC and TCS were the major gainers among the 50-scrips of NSE Nifty. Finally, the BSE benchmark Sensex fell 85 points to close at 13566. NSE Nifty was down 22 points to close at 3911.
Cairn India had a disappointing debut on the bourses today, the scrip ended at Rs137 translating a 14% discount. Cairn India entered the capital market with a public issue of 328,799,675 equity shares. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs162 and a low of Rs128 and recorded volumes of over 6,00,00,000 shares on NSE.
Punj Lloyd advanced 1.5% to Rs1013 after the company won Rs12.9bn Offshore order from ONGC. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs1029 and a low of Rs995 and recorded volumes of over 5,00,000 shares on NSE.
Bharti Airtel edged higher 0.3% to Rs623 after the company declared that it would announce its retail investment plans next month. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs630 and a low of Rs611 and recorded volumes of over 6,00,000 shares on NSE.
Jet Airways gained 2.1% to Rs629 after the company announced that they hope to be profitable in fiscal 3Q. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs634 and a low of Rs611 and recorded volumes of over 4,00,000 shares on NSE.
Capital Good stocks ended lower as profit booking dragged them down. L&T lost 2.1% to Rs1430, Siemens dropped 1.6% to Rs1068 and BHEL was down 0.7% to Rs2250.
Metal stocks continued its downtrend as metal prices on LME were down. Tisco, SAIL, National Aluminum, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries were among the major losers.
FMCG stocks were badly beaten up after Finance minister P. Chidambaram asked industry to cut prices and not take advantage of growing demand. Nirma, McDowell, heavy weight ITC and Britannia were among the major losers.
Telecom stocks also were among the major losers. R Com pared its intra-day gains on back of profit booking, the scrip was down 3% to Rs422, MTNL was down 2% to Rs154 and VSNL lost 0.5% to Rs434. However, heavy weight Bharti Airtel edged higher 0.3% to Rs623.