Unabated selling drags market below 20,600

The market witnessed a free fall towards the close and tanked 1.38% on across-the-board selling pressure. The market showed no signs of recovery on sustained selling in consumer durables, FMCG, metal and PSU stocks, with the index slipping below the 20,600 mark at the closing bell. Despite weak global cues the Sensex resumed 60 points above its previous close and hit the all-time high of 21,207 by afternoon. However, profit bookings in frontline stocks towards the close saw the Sensex slip below 21,000 mark and shed 677 points to touch the day's low of 20,530. The Sensex finally ended the session with losses of 288 points at 20,582. The Nifty, too, reeled under selling pressure and lost 115 points to close at 6,157.

The market breadth was extremely weak with losers outpacing gainers in a ratio of 7.20:1. Of the 2,912 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,544 stocks declined, 351 stocks advanced and 17 stocks ended unchanged. Except the BSE Bankex index all the sectoral indices finished in the red with steep losses. The BSE CD index was the major loser and dropped 3.76% followed by the BSE FMCG index (down 3.64%), the BSE Metal index (down 3.36%) and the BSE PSU index (down 3.15%).

Barring ICICI Bank, the index heavyweights were battered. Hindalco led the losers pack and crumbled by 4.78% at Rs202. Among the other major losers Tata Steel plummeted by 4.09% at Rs854, NTPC dropped 3.99% at Rs266, Reliance Energy tumbled by 3.91% at Rs2465, ITC shed 3.62% at Rs220, ACC declined by 3.25% at Rs939, Ranbaxy slumped 3.23% at Rs398, Infosys fell by 3.22% at Rs1602 and Cipla dipped 3.18% at Rs202. ICICI Bank, however, ended higher at Rs1,357, up 3.53%.

Over 3.26 crore RNRL shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Ispat Industries (1.81 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.45 crore shares), Himachal Futuristic Communications (1.18 crore shares) and Alka India (1.05 crore shares).

Valuewise, RNRL registered a turnover of Rs719 crore on the BSE followed by Reliance Petroleum (Rs324 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs319 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs278 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs243 crore).