Choppy on June expiry June

Despite Asian indices closing in the green, the Indian stock market seemed to have lost steam after opening strong . The Sensex opened53 points higher at 14476 and touched the day's high of 14578 withinminutes of trading on brisk buying in heavyweights. However, it shed its early gains on heavy selling in automobile, consumer durable (CD), oil & gas and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG)stocks and entered the negative territory by afternoon. The Sensex swung between negative and positive thereafter, as investors turned cautious due to lack of clarity. The Sensex tumbled below the 14300 mark towards afternoon session to touch the intra-day low of 14261 amid relentless selling pressure, but buying at lower levels helped it pare some losses. The Sensex finally closed at 14346, down 77 points, while Nifty ended 51 points down at 4242.



The market breadth was firm, as gainers outpaced losers. Of the 2,701 stocks trading on the BSE, 1,408 stocks advanced, whereas 1,216 stocks advanced. Seventy seven stocks ended unchanged. Select sectoral indices slipped sharply. The BSE Auto dropped 2.18% followed by BSE Oil (down 2.10%), BSE PSU (down 1.71%) and BSE CD (down 1.43%).



Most of the index heavyweights witnessed correction. Among the Sensex majors, Tata Motors tumbled5.43% to Rs337.60, Maruti Suzuki India dropped 3.10% to Rs1,026.90, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd lost 2.94% to Rs702.65, Bharat Heavy Electricals slumped 2.73% to Rs2,133.20, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation slipped2.45% to Rs1,025.20, Ranbaxy Laboratories shed 2.36% at Rs266.85, ITC lost 2.29% at Rs194.10, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries fell 2.24% to Rs1,315, Tata Steel crumbled 2.12% toRs397.95 and National Thermal Power Corporation dipped 2.11% to Rs194.40. Other front-line stocks lost around 1-2% each. However, select counters saw some buying and ended with gains. HDFC advanced 2.98% to Rs2,378.10 while JP Associates, Tata Power, ACC, ICICI Bank and Grasim Industries ended with modest gains.



Over 2.71 crore shares of Unitech changed hands on the BSE followed by Suzlon Energy (1.93 crore shares), JP Hydro (1.53 crore shares), Cals Refineries (1.31 crore shares) and Reliance Natural Resource (1.24 crore shares).


Suzlon Energy was the most actively traded counter on the BSE and registered a turnover of Rs230 crore followed by Unitech (Rs224 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs192 crore), Educomp Solutions (Rs192 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs166 crore).