Market plunges on weak global cues

The market seems to be in a consolidation phase and the Sensex closed the session with losses of 240 points. The Sensex opened weak in line with the global indices at 13034, down 90 points and dipped below the 13000 mark. The unwinding of positions in the derivatives segment before the expiry day kept the market under pressure. The sustained selling in information technology, auto and telecom stocks saw the Sensex remain in negative territory. The market was range-bound with a negative bias in the afternoon. The information technology stocks were under pressure on concerns over the weak consumer confidence report indicating a possible slowdown in the US economy and the dollar hitting a low against the rupee. The sentiment was extremely bearish towards the close, which dragged the index to an intra-day low of 12861.The Sensex ended the session with losses of 240 points at 12884, while the Nifty shed 59 points and closed at 3761.

The breadth of the market was exceedingly negative. Of the 2,641 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,926 stocks declined, 653 stocks advanced and 62 stocks ended unchanged. All the sectoral indices ended in the red. The BSE IT Index dropped 3.54% at 4832 followed by the BSE Teck Index (down 2.91% at 3486), the BSE Auto Index (down 2.63% at 4820), the BSE Bankex (down 2.27% at 6535) and the BSE CD Index (down 2.23% at 3565).

Out of the 30 Sensex stocks, 22 stocks closed in negative territory. Among the major losers TCS slumped 4.78% at Rs1,201, Wipro tumbled 4.77% at Rs558, Tata Motors plunged 4.65% at Rs719, SBI declined 3.89% at Rs974, Satyam Computer dipped 3.53% at Rs456, HDFC slipped 3.51% at Rs1,519, Infosys lost 3.15% at Rs1,992, L&T shed 3.08% at Rs1,566, Maruti fell 2.47% at Rs799 and Hindalco was down 2.36% at Rs130. However Ranbaxy bucked the downtrend and advanced 3.05% at Rs338. Dr Reddy's gained 1.83% at Rs694. ONGC, Reliance Energy, BHEL, ITC, HLL and ACC closed with marginal gains.

Information technology stocks continued to reel under sustained selling pressure. HCL Technology plummeted 4.75% at Rs288, Patni Computers tumbled 4.47% at Rs373, Financial Technologies dropped 3.07% at Rs1,917, Tech Mahindra shed 3.06% at Rs1,427 and Mphasis declined 1.77% at Rs275.

Over 20.64 lakh SAIL shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Gujarat Ambuja (18.63 lakh shares), Idea Celullar (18.42 lakh shares), Reliance Petroleum (17.63 lakh shares) and Reliance Communications (13.50 lakh shares).

Value-wise Infosys registered a turnover of Rs127 crore on the BSE followed by TCS (Rs85 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs78 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs56 crore) and BHEL (Rs47 crore).