Post Market Commentary - March 20 2009

The Sensex closed lower led by realty, consumer goods and banking stocks dropped, while metals bucked the trend with rise in commodities prices. The 30-share index, BSE Sensex opened with a loss of 50.41 points, at 8,951.34 on Friday. As the day progressed, it slipped further on heavy selling pressure seen in index pivotals, touching a low of 8,867.13. Later the Sensex pared most of its losses towards the final close as select buying was seen in frontliners.

BSE Midcap index declined 0.47%, while Smallcap index rose 0.54% respectively.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Realty was worst hit. The counter plunged 4.14% followed by Consumer goods, which dipped 2.54% and Bankex down by 1.95%.

Asian stocks fell, led by banks and technology companies, after the benchmark index`s biggest weekly gain since August 2007 drove valuations to the highest in more than a year. Hang Seng index lost 297.41 points, or 2.26%, to close at 12,833.51 and Shanghai Composite increased 15.33 points, or 0.68%, to settle at 2,281.09.

European stocks fell. Barclays fell almost 3.5%. Deutsche Telekom declined more than 2% after Credit Suisse Group recommended selling shares of Europe`s largest phone company. FTSE 100 fell 36.47 points, or 0.96%, to trade at 3,780.46, CAC 40 declined 31.74 points, or 1.14%, to trade at 2,745.25 and DAX dropped 28.18 points, or 0.70% to trade at 4,015.28. (4.14 p.m., IST)

The Sensex ended the day with a loss of 35.07 points, or 0.39% at 8,966.68 after touching a high of 8,999.98 and a low of 8,867.13. The broad-based NSE Nifty declined 0.10 points at 2,807.05 after hitting a high of 2,816.10 and a low of 2,773.65.

Major gainers in the 30-share index were Hindalco Industries (5.66%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (3.41%), Tata Steel (1.67%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (1.58%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (1.57%), and Hindustan Unilever (1.17%).

On the other hand, Tata Motors (6.24%), ICICI Bank (4.50%), Larsen & Toubro (4.01%), Maruti Suzuki India (2.59%), Bharat Heavy Electricals (2.32%), and Reliance Capital (1.81%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Overall market breadth was mixed. Out of the total 2,569 stocks traded at BSE, 1,245 advanced, 1,219 declined while 105 remained unchanged.