HOW MARKET FARED

Volatility likely to continue

Markets again fell under the grip of bears as volatility, selling pressure, higher than expected Inflation figures and freezing of Cement prices for one year dragged benchmark index to hit a low of 12788.16. Both the key indices yet again witnessed wild gyrations during the trading session with benchmark Sensex swinging over 350 points and NSE Nifty over 100 points. All the sectoral indices except for the BSE Small Cap and the Consumer Durable index ended in red, with BSE FMCG index being the top loser losing 1.64%. Finally, the 30-share benchmark Sensex slipped 164 points to close at 12884. NSE Nifty dropped 43 points to close at 3718.

Idea Cellular opened at Rs92.40 on the BSE as against the issue price of Rs74. The scrip surged by 14% to Rs85 after hitting an intra-day high of Rs92 and a low of Rs85 and recorded volume of over 17,00,00,000 shares on NSE. The Aditya Birla Group Company fixed the issue price at Rs75 per share. The company entered capital market with an IPO of Rs21.25bn. The issue was subscribed 49.51 times.

Nalco edged higher by 0.4% to Rs227 after the company announced that they would pay Rs1.5 per share in interim Dividend. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs230 and a low of Rs222 and recorded volumes of over 1,00,000 shares on NSE.

Patel Engineering edged lower 0.7% to Rs326. The company declared Interim Dividend at 130%. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs338 and a low of R322 and recorded volumes of over 28,000 shares on NSE.

Cement stocks were again badly beaten up after cement companies agreed not to raise prices for a year despite higher input prices. ACC declined 6.7% to Rs777, Grasim lost 7.5% to Rs2063, Manglam Cement was locked at 5% lower circuit to Rs150.20, Ultra tech Cement dropped 5.6% to Rs771 and India Cement lost 8.6% to Rs153.

Pharma stocks were in bad health. Cipla lost 3.1% to Rs229, Ranbaxy declined 0.7% to Rs326, Wockhardt lost 1.7% to Rs370 and Cadila shed lower by 0.5% to Rs310.

FMCG stocks also were on the receiving end. Heavy weight ITC declined by over 3.5% to Rs154, Dabur was down 2.1% to Rs89, Britannia edged lower by 0.4% to Rs1234 and HLL was marginally down by 0.25 to Rs183.