Panic selling halts market resurgence

Panic selling in noon trades triggered a major correction after the market had witnessed gains of more than 150 points in the first half. Continuing with the buoyancy, the Sensex resumed with a positive gap of 53 points at 16,270. Consumer durable stocks buying fuelled a major rally in early trades and the index zoomed above the 16,300 mark to touch a new intra-day high of 16,309. While the market stood firm thereafter, a sudden spurt in selling activities, particularly in banking, oil & gas, technology and health care sectors dragged the index just above 16,000 level to the day's low of 16,010. The Sensex finally wrapped the session with losses of 0.81% or 131 points at 16,087, while the Nifty dropped 1% or 49 points to close at 4,828.

Although the market fell sharply, the breadth of the market was positive. Of the 2,760 stocks traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 1,722 stocks advanced, 989 stocks declined and 49 stocks ended unchanged. Of the 13 sectoral indices trading on the BSE, seven indices ended in the red and six moved in green. The BSE CD index was the major performer on the upside and gained 1.55% at 3,830, while the BSE Metal index was up around 1% at 13,745.

Dragging the Sensex, HUL lost 4.31% at Rs234.40, ICICI Bank dropped 4.17% at Rs843, Bharti Airtel fell 3.75% at Rs803.10, DLF declined 3.07% at Rs657.80 and Jaiprakash Associates tumbled 3.02% at Rs226.05. BHEL, Reliance Coomunications, Cipla, Ambuja Cement, SBI, NTPC, Wipro and ONGC were down by nearly 1-2% each. However, Tisco advanced 3.79% at Rs657.85, HDFC scaled up 2.73% at Rs2,660, ITC added 2.09% at Rs195.10, HDFC Bank gained 1.64% at Rs1,441, Satyam jumped 0.47% at Rs413 and TCS was up nearly 0.38% at Rs879.30.

Bankex stocks declined sharply. ICICI Bank crashed by 4.17% at Rs843, UBI dropped 2.80% at Rs149.45, Bank of Baroda lost 2.19% at Rs292.75 and Canara Bank shed 1.64% at Rs225.20. SBI, Federal Bank and Oriental Bank of India slipped marginally.

Over 1.87crore Ispat Industries shares changed hands on the BSE followed by RNRL (1.58 crore shares), RPL (80 lakh shares), IFCI (75 lakh shares) and Essar Oil (72 lakh shares).