Post Session Commentary - Dec 23 2008

The Indian market ended lower as investors booked profits over the counters due to lack of positive cues on subdued global markets. Bears tightened their grip as Asian stock markets retreated for a third straight session. European markets opened positive but overlooked by the domestic traders. December 2008 derivatives contracts due to be expire on Wednesday, 24 December 2008, also contributed to the uneasiness.

The Indian market extended its yesterday’s losses and opened lower tracking negative cues from the markets all over the world. Further benchmark indices continued to trade in negative as strong selling pressure prolonged across the board on the back of deepening worries about the global economic outlook. Stocks slipped sharply lower during final trading and posted its biggest drop in more than two weeks to conclude the day in red led by banks and engineering companies on concern that corporate earnings may be hurt by slowing economic growth. BSE Sensex ended below 9,700 mark and NSE Nifty below 3,000 level. From the sectoral front, Investors off-loaded positions across the sectors and most of the selling was observed in Consumer Durables, Reality, Bank, Capital Goods, Metal, Auto and IT stocks. Midcap and Smallcap stocks also remained out of favor.

Among the Sensex pack 29 stocks ended in red territory and 1 in green. The market breadth was negative as 1752 stocks closed in red while 725 stocks closed in green and 82 stocks remained unchanged in BSE.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 241.60 points at 9,686.75 and NSE Nifty ended down by 70.65 points at 2,968.65. The BSE Mid Caps and Small Caps ended with losses of 83.98 points and 95.77 points at 3,175.81 and 3,639.18 respectively. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 9,838.38 and intraday low of 9,643.56.

Losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Satyam Computer (13.55%), JP Associates (10.18%), Tata Motos (7.04%), Sterlite In (6.00%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (5.33%), L&T Ltd (4.89%), DLF Ltd (4.40%), ICICI Bank (4.32%), Hindalco (4.10%) and HDFC Bank (3.92%).

Only gainer from the BSE Sensex pack is Reliance Com Ltd (1.24%).

The BSE Consumer Durable index tumbled (5.81%) or 119.58 points to close at 1,137.87 as Titan Ind (7.68%), Videocon Ind (5.53%), Rajesh Export (4.41%), Blue Star L (3.29%) and Gitabjale GE (2.32%) ended in negative territory.

The BSE Reality index ended lower by (4.84%) or 122.26 points at 2,406.38. Main losers are Unitech Ltd (7.54%), Ansal Infra (7.16%), Housing Dev (6.82%), Orbit Co (5.68%), Parsvnath (4.80%) and DLF Ltd (4.40%).

The BSE Bank index ended down by (3.76%) or 206.69 points at 5,285.09. Major losers are Yes Bank (8.11%), Axis Bank (7.07%), Indian Overseas Bank (6.70%), Kotak Bank (6.70%) and Bank of Baroda (5.78%).

The BSE Capital Goods index ended lower by (3.61%) or 257 points at 6,868.03. Major losers are Usha Martin (7.86%), Alstom Proje (6.57%), Suzlon Energy (5.79%), Jyoti Struct (4.96%), L&T Ltd (4.89%) and Punj Lloyd (4.54%).

The BSE Metal index lost (3.07%) or 164.06 points to close at 5,188.42 as Jai Corp Ltd (8.62%), Sterlite In (6.00%), Steel Authority (5.76%), Hindalco (4.10%), Guajrat NRE C (4.29%) and Hindalco (4.10%) ended in red.