Market retreats from all time high

The market tumbled in the late trade following a sudden sell-off in blue-chip stocks, in sync with other markets across the globe. The day started on a firm note, with both the niche indices - BSE Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty striking record highs, but were not able to sustain at higher levels.

The market breadth, indicating overall health of the market was strong, despite the sharp fall, due to on strong buying momentum for small and mid-cap stocks.

FMCG, metal stocks rose. IT, power, Oil & Gas, capital goods & banking stocks declined. ITC & Tata Steel were top gainers while Bharti Airtel & ICICI Bank were top losers from Sensex pack. Reliance Industries declined sharply in late trade.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 271.48 points or 1.33% to 20,104.39. It opened with a upward gap to hit a all time high of 20,498.11 in early trade. At day’s high Sensex rose 122.24 points. It hit a low of 20,065.63 in late trade. At day’s low Sensex had lost 310.24 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty declined 101.2 points or 1.64% to 6,058.10.It hit a all time high of 6,185.40 in early trade.

Market breadth was strong on BSE. On BSE, 1,811 stocks advanced, 1,059 stocks declined and 28 stocks remained unchanged. 20 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack declined.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 9,873 crore in cash market today compared to yesterday’s Rs 9,614.65 crore.

Nifty December 2007 futures settled at 6,065, a slight premium of 6.90 points as compared to the spot closing of 6,058.10. The Nifty December 2007 futures hit a record high of 6181.90 in early trade.

BSE Mid Cap index rose 0.39% to 9,375.94. It hit a all time high of 9,460.50 today. BSE Small Cap index rose 1.03% to 12,007.33, It hit an all time high of 12,138.34 today. Both these indices outperformed Sensex.

BSE Consumer Durables index (down 1.27% to 6,052.12), BSE Capital Goods index (down 1.21% to 20,061.96), BSE Realty index (down 1.11% to 12,400.54), BSE Auto index (down 0.08% to 5,765.56), BSE Health Care index (up 0.68% to 4,202.18), BSE Metal index (up 0.71% to 19,767.72), BSE FMCG index (up 1.93% to 2,231.77) outperformed Sensex.

BSE IT index (down 1.59% to 4,284.37), BSE Bankex (down 1.85% to 11,495.40), BSE Oil & Gas index (down 2.17% to 12,867.24) underperformed Sensex.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization & oil refiner Reliance Industries declined 1.88% to Rs 2,832.75.

Oil & Gas stocks declined sharply in late trade. Essar Oil (down 4.59% to Rs 295.30), Gail (India) (down 3.91% to Rs 520.65), ONGC (down 2.23% to Rs 1,227.80) & Reliance Petroleum (down 2.31% to Rs 223.75) edged lower.

Banking majors declined. ICICI Bank (down 3.7% to Rs 1,242.50) and HDFC Bank (down 1.48% to Rs 1,757.60), State Bank of India (down 1.89% to Rs 2,394.25) edged lower.

Capital goods stocks declined. Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 2.15% to Rs 2,591.50), Larsen & Toubro (down 1.14% to Rs 4,235.10) and Suzlon Energy (down 2.15% to Rs 1,966.85) edged lower.

Power stocks declined. NTPC (down 1.97% to Rs 246.05) and Tata Power Company (down 3.65% to Rs 1,307.40) Reliance Energy (down 1.05% to Rs 1,911.50) edged lower.

IT stocks declined. Infosys (down 1.55% to Rs 1,658.70), Satyam Computer Services (down 2.34% to Rs 421.05) and Wipro (down 1.06% to Rs 500.20 ) Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.84% to Rs 1,029.70) edged lower.

Cipla (up 2.1% to Rs 203.75) and Bajaj Auto (up 1.46% to Rs 2,818.65) edged higher.

Bharti Airtel (down 6.24% to Rs 987.80), Maruti Suzuki India (down 3.45% to Rs 1,038.35) edged lower.

FMCG stocks rose. ITC (up 4.12% to Rs 196.90) and Hindustan Unilever (up 0.76% to Rs 212), Tata Tea (up 4.31% to Rs 934.80) edged higher.

Metal stocks also inched up. JSW Steel (up 7.84% to Rs 1,334.65), Tata Steel (up 2.89% to Rs 889.40), Hindalco Industries (up 1.58% to Rs 208.95), edged higher.

Kolte Patil Developers settled at a premium of 26.95% to Rs 185.85 over the IPO price of 145 on its debut today. The stock will be placed in the B1 group on BSE. The company had fixed the IPO price at the top end of the Rs 125-145 IPO price band.

Mahindra & Mahindra rose 0.8% to Rs 794.10. As per reports Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M’s) all-Indian utility vehicle, Scorpio, will enter the quality-conscious US market, which is also the largest in the world with 15 million vehicles in annual sales. The company already has firm orders for 45,000 units of Scorpio for the first year, which is more than the 40,000 it sold in India in the last financial year. More importantly, 285 US dealers have signed up to sell the vehicle and are investing $178 million in setting up sales and service outlets.

European markets were trading weak today. France’s CAC 40 (down 1.86% to 5,636.33), Germany’s DAX (down 0.91% to 8,000.98) and UK’s FTSE 100 (down 1.85% to 6,438.30) edged lower.

Asian markets were trading lower today, 13 December 2007 on fears a quarter-point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve announced on 11 December 2007 may not be enough to ward off a US recession. Japan's Nikkei (down 2.48% at 15,536.52), Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 2.72% at 27,744.45), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 3.57% at 8,187.95), Straits Times (down 1.97% at 3,479.17), South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 0.6% to 1,915.90) edged lower.

US markets started the day sharply higher yesterday, 12 December 2007 fueled by news of Fed's plans to boost liquidity but eventually lost steam as negative developments out of the financial sector weighed on the broader market. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 41.13 points, or 0.31%, to 13,473.90. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.94 points, or 0.61%, to 1,486.59. The Nasdaq Composite index advanced 18.79 points, or 0.71%, to 2,671.14.

Back home, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) jumped 11.8% in October 2007 from 4.5% in October 2006. IIP stood at 9.7% in April-October 2007 compared with 10.1% in April-October 2006. Industrial output data for September 2007 was revised upwards to 6.8% from 6.4%. The government released the IIP data early afternoon yesterday, 12 December 2007.