Sensex pares 60 pts in lackluster trade

The markets opened with a positive gap of 77 points, but were not able to latch on to the gains and traded lackluster during the day.

During the day, the Sensex declined over 110 points to touch a low of 15,135.81.


The 30-share BSE Sensex closed down 60.58 points, or 0.4%, at 15,189.62; while the broad-based NSE Nifty closed down 22.25 points, or 0.49%, at 4,517.10.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap Index gained 0.08% and 0.74% respectively.

Other Asian counterparts closed mixed today with Nikkei advancing 0.61%, while Hang Seng declining 1.87% and Shanghai Composite settling 1.30% lower.

Market Statistics

The overall market breadth was mixed. Out of the total 2,678 shares traded at the BSE, 1,445 advanced, 1,156 declined while 77 remained unchanged.
Equities declined on Friday, extending its weekly loss to the fourth straight week, after inflation rose to 8.75% for the week ended May 31, raising speculation that the RBI might take more action.

Jaiprakash Associates, DLF and HDFC Bank led the declines. Metal and realty stocks declined, while the fertilizer pack gained.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Metal and Realty index declined over 2% each, while BSE CD index gained 1.74%, BSE HC rose 1.19%, BSE Bankex added 0.26% and BSE CG was up 0.25%.

Gainers at the BSE Sensex were Ranbaxy (4.31%), ICICI Bank (3.03%) and BHEL (2.79%). TCS, Tata Motors, ONGC and RCom also gained.

Losers at the BSE Sensex include JP Associates (4.03%), DLF (3.61%) and HDFC Bank (3.45%). Cipla, HUL, Reliance Infra and Maruti Suzuki declined about 2% each.

Reliance Capital (Rs 2.69 billion) topped the value chart, followed by Anu`s Labs (Rs 2.61 billion) and Chambal Fertilisers (Rs 2.48 billion). RPL (Rs 2.46 billion) and RIL (Rs 2.20 billion) also witnessed good turnover.

Chambal Fertilisers (28.09 million) topped the volume chart, followed by Nagarjuna Fertilisers (17.81 million) and RPL (13.71 million). RNRL (12.96 million) and IFCI (12.60 million) also made it to the top volumes chart.