Global cues weigh on market

The market continued its downward journey for the third straight session, as a slump in the global indices made the investors jittery, triggering a major sell-off. The Sensex resumed today’s session on a bearish note at 9665, about 106 points below its previous close of 14663. By mid-morning, pervasive selling caused it to touch the day's low of 14,265, about 398 points below the previous close. Although the index managed to erase some losses and trade around 14400 for a while in the afternoon, fresh selling dragged it below the 14400 level towards the close. After registering losses of 238 points in the last two sessions, the Sensex was 338 points or 2.28% points down for the day at 14324. The Nifty ended at 4290, which is 110 points lower than its previous close of 4400.

All the 13 sectoral indices of the BSE were mauled down by 1-3%. The BSE Oil & Gas index was the major loser and crashed by 3.39% followed by the BSE Power (-2.97%), the BSE Realty index (-2.48%), the BSE CG index (-2.39%), the BSE PSU index (-2.15%) and the BSE CD index (-1.80%). The BSE second-rung benchmark indices the BSE mid-cap index and the BSE small-cap index tanked by over 1% each.

The breadth of the market was heavily skewed in favour of losing stocks. Of the 2,714 stocks traded on the BSE, 66% shares (1,788 stocks) declined, while only 31% stocks (852 stocks) advanced. About 3% stocks (74 stocks) ended unchanged. Of the 30 stocks that make the Sensex, only two advanced for the day. Among the major losers Bharti Airtel crashed by 4.40% at Rs776.20, Reliance Infrastructure plunged by 4.15% at Rs992, Reliance Industries slumped by 4.13% at Rs1,997.60, ONGC crumbled by 3.82% at Rs1,035.45, Tata Power plummeted by 3.53% at Rs1,012.10, DLF dropped 3.28% at Rs485.55, JP Associates shed 3.25% at Rs162.35 and Mahindra & Mahindra tanked 3% at Rs560.15. The other heavyweights also came under sustained selling pressure and lost 1-2% each.

Over 1.52 crore IFCI shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Tata Teleservices (1 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (86.99 lakh shares), Austral Coke & Projects (67.31 lakh shares) and Reliance Petroleum (67.20 lakh shares).