Sensex ends below 17k; RComm, HDFC Bank plunge

The Sensex wrapped the day on a weak note weighed by banking, auto, PSU and oil & gas stocks except healthcare. It opened higher with a gain of 53.04 points, at 17,150.59 on Tuesday tracking firm global cues and on advance tax number news made by the companies. After trading in green for brief period, the index lost all its firmness and fell into the negative terrain as profit booking emerged in continued to trade in a lacklustre manner. Before the final half an hour of close, the Sensex plunged further on sustained selling to finally close on a depressing note after touching a day`s low of 16,835.78.

The banking and financial sector witnessed heavy selling pressure as investors feared that the Reserve Bank may tighten the monetary policy next month to contain rising inflation.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index dipped 1.56% and 1.42% respectively.

Asian stocks declined led by Chinese developers on speculation China will curb land. Japanese benchmark index Nikkei 225 lost 22.20 points, or 0.22%, to end at 10,083.48. Hong Kong`s Hang Seng fell 271.83 points, or 1.23%, to end at 21,813.92. China`s Shanghai Composite decreased 28.44 points, or 0.86% to end at 3,274.46.

The Sensex ended the day with a loss of 220.39 points, or 1.29% at 16,877.16 after touching a high of 17,200.47 and a low of 16,835.78. The broad-based NSE Nifty declined 72.65 points, or 1.42% at 5,033.05 after hitting a high of 5,129.45 and a low of 5,018.25.
Leaders in the 30-share index were ITC (1.27%), Hindalco Industries (1.07%), Infosys Technologies (0.34%), Tata Steel (0.23%), NTPC (0.12%), and Wipro (0.04%).

On the other hand, Reliance Communications (3.73%), HDFC Bank (3.27%), Tata Motors (3.18%), State Bank Of India(3.00%), ICICI Bank (2.95%), and Jaiprakash Associates (2.58%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Overall market breadth was sharply negative. Out of the total 2,910 stocks traded at BSE, 808 advanced, 2,031 declined while 71 remained unchanged.


Among the sectoral indices, BSE Bankex went down 2.95%, Auto fell 1.93%, PSU fell 1.79%, Oil & Gas went down 1.57% and Capital Goods declined 1.56%, while BSE HC which gained 0.11%.