Market ends volatile session in the red; breadth strong

The market moved between positive and negative territory due to lack of strong participation from investors ahead of industrial production and inflation data on Friday, 11 April 2008. Key indices, which had soared in mid-afternoon trade, fell sharply in the last hour of trade led by sharp decline in banking stocks.

Oil gas stocks were the star performers of the session. IT stocks slipped due to profit booking after an early surge. Mid-caps and small-caps outperformed the frontliners.

Asian markets, which opened before Indian markets, were mostly in green. But European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were in the red.

As per provisional data, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 124.41 points or 0.79% at 15,666.10. The Sensex gained 258.44 points at day’s high of 15,953.54, hit in mid-afternoon trade. The index lost 135.31 points at the session’s low of 15,655.20, hit at the fag end of the trading session.

The CNX S&P Nifty fell 22.55 points or 0.48% at 4724.50.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.12% at 6,478.96 and the BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.13% at 8,031.06.

On BSE, 1713 stocks gained, 949 stocks declined and 67 stocks were unchanged.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 5496 crore as against Rs 5,331.37 on Wednesday, 9 April 2008.

India's second largest power utility by revenue Reliance Energy surged 6.30% at Rs 1252 after the company said on Wednesday, 9 April 2008 that it bought-back 176,871 equity shares of the company. Since the commencement of the buy-back on 25 March 2008, the company has so far bought back 20,38,551 equity shares aggregating Rs 250.75 crore. Earlier, Reliance Energy's board had approved the buyback of shares worth about Rs 800 crore in the first phase.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 1.94% at Rs 2465.

India’s largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank slipped 4.36% at Rs 801.50.

India’s largest engineering and construction firm by revenue Larsen & Toubro rose 1.08% at Rs 2665.70.

TCS (up 2.86% at Rs 901.70), Ambuja Cements (up 1.50% at Rs 122), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.13% at Rs 614.75), Tata Steel (up 1.03% at Rs 685.90), Hindalco Industries (up 0.64% at Rs 173.75) and Maruti Suzuki (up 0.35% at Rs 736), were the top gainers from the Sensex pack.

Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 4.33% at Rs 450.05), HDFC Bank (down 3.64% at Rs 1326), Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.19% at Rs 212.55), Bharti Airtel (down 2.95% at Rs 795.80) and Reliance Communication (down 2.69% at Rs 483), were the top losers from the Sensex pack.

Software firm Financial Technologies was down 0.89% at Rs 1,690 despite the company announcing the acquisition of South African technology company ICX Platform for $1.50 million.

Auto ancillary firm Banco Products India jumped over 17.25% to Rs 36.70 after it said its board would meet on 17 April 2008 to consider buyback of shares.

Private sector lender Development Credit Bank tripped 2.86% to Rs 88.45 after the management denied reports of a merger with a large bank for business expansion. The scrip had jumped over 10% to Rs 100.45 earlier in the day.

Mukesh Ambani-run oil refining firm Reliance Petroleum was up 3.17% at Rs 175.50 after reports hinted at the possibility of an early start of the company’s oil refinery.

Offshore transportation services provider Global Vectra Helicorp soared 20% at Rs 85.95 after the company said it plans a rights issue in December 2008 to fund the expansion plans, including an investment of $65 million to raise fleet size to 29 by March 2009.

Key indices in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan were up by 0.57% to 1.86%. However, indices in Japan and Singapore were down by 0.65% to 1.27%.

European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were in red. Key indices in UK, France and Germany were down by between 0.65% to 1.34%.

US stocks fell on Wednesday, 9 April 2008, after United Parcel Service Inc slashed its earnings forecast and oil prices hit a record high above $112 per barrel, darkening the outlook for corporate results. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 49.18 points, or 0.39%, ending the day at 12,527.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 11.05 points, or 0.81%, finishing at 1,354.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 26.64 points, or 1.13%, at 2,322.12.