Sensex slips on weak global markets

On weakness in global markets and expectation that the market is in correction phase, the market witnessed accumulation of fresh short positions and squaring of long positions which led to two-way selling today. The Sensex resumed with a positive gap of nine points despite a major fall in the US markets and weak Asian indices. The market turned choppy as selling intensified among the Sensex heavyweights, FMCG, oil and capital goods stocks. While the index moved in a range with a negative bias thereafter, sustained selling saw the Sensex touch the day's low of 13968 towards the close. The Sensex finally closed at 14003, down 128 points, while the Nifty shed 42 points to close at 4113.

The breadth of the market was weak. Of the 2,540 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,372 stocks declined, 1,083 stocks advanced and 85 stocks ended unchanged. Except fro the BSE CD Index and the BSE HC Index all the sectoral indices received a beating. The BSE Oil & Gas Index led the slump and shed 1.25% at 7379, the BSE CG Index was down 1.22% and the BSE Bankex was down 1.14%.

Among the 30 Sensex stocks 22 ended in the red and eight closed in the green. Among the laggards SBI was down 3.19% at Rs1,289, Reliance Communication declined by 2.46% at Rs486, L&T shed 1.85% at Rs1,871, HDFC dropped 1.70% at Rs1,751, Wipro lost 1.56% at Rs531 and HLL fell 1.56% at Rs187. However, select heavyweights attracted decent buying support. Dr Reddy's Lab surged 2.72% at Rs628, Satyam computers rose 1.65% at Rs486 and Tata Motors, Hindalco, Reliance Energy, Maruti Udyog, ONGC, NTPC and Cipla gained marginally.

Over 1.32 crore Time Technologies stocks changed hands on the BSE followed by GV Films (81.26 lakh shares), IFCI (66.81 lakh shares), Reliance Natural Resources (61.62 lakh shares) and Dabur India (51.62 lakh shares).

Value-wise Time Technologies registered a turnover of Rs636 crore followed by Reliance Industries (Rs147 crore), Nestle (Rs103 crore), Indiabulls Real Estate (Rs100 crore) and SBI (Rs81 crore).