Free fall continues

Nervousness gripped the market for the fifth consecutive session as selling pressure since early trades saw the index remain weak all through the trading session. Although the Sensex resumed 20 points above its previous close at 14,313 and moved up to touch an early high of 14,433, the market soon snapped gains owing to the emergence of selling pressure. As correction continued unabated, the index tumbled below the mark to touch the intra-day low of 13,991 by end of the trade. While the market languished in negative territory through the noon trades, the Sensex signed off the session with losses of 187 points at 14,107. The Nifty also ended in the red at 4,191, down 75 points.

The market breadth was weak. Of the 2,707 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,922 stocks declined, 722 stocks advanced and 63 stocks ended unchanged. All the sectoral indices ended at lower levels. The BSE Metal index fell 3.52%, the BSE PSU index dipped 2.80%, the BSE FMCG index shed 2.54% and the BSE IT index was down 2.17%.

Among the draggers, Hindustan Unilever dropped 5.32% at Rs208, Tata Steel shed 4.60% at Rs690, NTPC tumbled 3.92% at Rs153.50, ONGC declined 3.61% at Rs840 and Larsen & Toubro was down 3.58% at Rs2,290.10. Ambuja Cement at Rs80.15, HDFC Bank at Rs1,046, Grasim Industries at Rs2,060, Infosys at Rs1,765.10 were down around 3% each.

Select index heavyweights managed to register decent gains. HDFC rose 2.32% at Rs2,266.20, Ranbaxy Laboratories gained 2.31% at Rs525.30, Reliance Industries scaled up 2.18% at Rs2,066.20, BHEL added 2.17% at Rs1,391, Jaiprakash Associates jumped by 1.24% at Rs155.25 and SBI advanced 0.57% at Rs1,211.95.

Metal stocks came under sharp hammering. Nalco slumped 8.56% at Rs370.60, Welspun Gujarat lost 8.06% at Rs308.10, Ispat Industries declined 5.80% at Rs24.35 and Sterlite Industries was down 5.24% at Rs699.15. Shree Precoated, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Gujarat NRE, Hindalco and Sesa Goa Exports dipped 2-4% each.

Over 1.39 crore Reliance Natural Resources shares changed hands on the BSE followed by IFCI (1.32 crore shares), Reliance Petroleum (1.03 crore shares), Chambal Fertilisers (0.99 crore shares) and Ispat Industries (0.84 crore shares).