Markets snap yesterday’s momentum

Taking cue from yesterday's gain of some 500 points, the Sensex opened on a weak note at 9,205, lower 25 points from the previous close (9,230). While the market witnessed a fluctuating trend for a while, afternoon trades saw the index tumble below 9,000 mark to touch the day's low of 8,914 amid relentless selling pressure. The Sensex finally ended the day with loss of 265 points at 8,965, while Nifty declined by 74 points to close at 2,714.

The market breadth was extremely weak as losers outpaced gainers. Of the 2,160 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,104 stocks declined whereas 985 stocks advanced. Seventy-one stocks ended unchanged. All sectoral indices except BSE Auto slipped sharply. BSE CD dropped 4.37% followed by BSE IT (down 4.36%), BSE Realty (down 3.50%), BSE Metal (down 3.42%), BSE Oil & Gas (down 3.30%) and BSE Teck (down 3.28%).

Most of the index heavyweights witnessed heavy correction. Among CD stock majors, Titan Industries tumbled 5.34% at Rs830.80, Videocon Industries dropped 4.57% at Rs92.90, Blue Star moved down by 3.71% at Rs127, and Gitanjali Gems lost 2.08% at Rs68.25. Among the other major losers, JP Associates slumped 6.62% at Rs66.35, Tata Consultancy Services slipped 5.10% at Rs521.70, Infosys Technologies shed 4.94% at Rs1135.70 and DLF lost 4.87% at Rs203.15. HDFC fell by 4.84% at Rs1436.30, Hindalco Industries crumbled 4.78% at Rs49.85 and Sterlite Industries dipped 4.69% at Rs245. Other front-line stocks lost between 2-3% each. Select counters, however, bucked the downtrend and ended with gains. Tata Motors advanced 1.46% at Rs153.10 and Grasim Industries moved up by 1.01% at Rs938, while Maruti Suzuki India and Reliance Communications ended with modest gains.

Over 3.30 crore Unitech shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Suzlon Energy (1.86 crore shares), HDIL (1.13 crore shares), GVK Power & Infrastructure (1.07 crore shares) and Reliance Natural Resources ( 74 lakh shares).