Market drops most in 6 months; Nifty settles below 4,900

Indian equities continued to decline for the sixth straight session on Wednesday. Both Sensex and Nifty traded below 2-month low. Market saw a major crash today as Nifty settled below the psychological level of 4,900 for first time and it was the single day fall since August 2009. The indices slipped further on the back of aggressive selling by FIIs amid weak trends in overseas market. Broader markets also underperformed. Realty stocks was worst hit followed by metal, auto and banking stocks.

The markets posted highest ever turnover of Rs 1.8 lakh crore, including biggest ever NSE F&O turnover of Rs 1.65 lakh crore.

On global front, European stocks declined to the lowest levels in more than a month amid mounting concern that China and the US will accelerate plans to unwind stimulus measures as the economy rebounds.

Asian stocks fell for an eighth day, the longest streak since May 2005, as a bigger-than-estimated increase in Australian consumer prices fueled concern tighter monetary policies in the region will slow growth.

At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex lost 490.64 or 2.92% at 16,289.82 with 29 components registering drop. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty went down by 154.80 or 3.09% at 4,853.10 with 49 components posting drop.

Sensex Movers

ICICI Bank contributed fall of 59.93 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Tata Steel (43.26 points), State Bank Of India (39.01 points), Reliance Industries (33.19 points) and H D F C Bank (30.72 points).

However, ITC contributed rise of 3.22 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Tata Power Company (1.65 points), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (2.29 points), ACC (3.25 points) and Reliance Communications (3.97 points).


ITC, which gained 0.39% was the only gainer in the Sensex pack.

On the other hand, Tata Steel (8.48%), D L F (7.83%), Tata Motors (6.80%), Reliance Capital (6.45%), Wipro (5.79%), and Hindalco Industries (5.66%) were the biggest losers in the Sensex.

Mid & Small-cap Space

The BSE Midcap index was at 6429.16 down by 266.16 points or by 3.98%. The major losers were A I A Engineering (6.38%), Reliance MediaWorks (6.31%), Aban Offshore (5.54%), Core Projects and Technologies (2.44%) and Alstom Projects India (1.23%).

The BSE Smallcap index was at 8148.82 down by 434.19 points or by 5.06%. The major losers were Abhishek Industries (7.99%), A B G Shipyard (6.74%), A B G Infralogistics (6.72%), Aarti Industries (5.77%) and INEOS ABS (India) (4.55%).

Sectors in Limelight

The Realty index was at 3,357.25, down by 290.9 points or by 7.97%. The major losers were Indiabulls Real Estate (10.61%), D L F (7.83%), Anant Raj Industries (4.93%), Ansal Properties and Infrastructure (3.49%) and Ackruti City (3.03%).

The Metal index was at 16,050.57, down by 991.74 points or by 5.82%. The major losers were Gujarat N R E Coke (12.28%), Hindalco Industries (5.66%), Hindustan Zinc (4.95%), Jindal Steel & Power (3.72%) and Jai Corp (0.6%).

The Auto index was at 6,897.71, down by 346.21 points or by 4.78%. The major losers were Bharat Forge (5.81%), Ashok Leyland (4.26%), Amtek Auto (3.73%), Bajaj Auto (3.42%) and Apollo Tyres (1.25%).

The Bankex index was at 9,296.34, down by 406.39 points or by 4.19%. The major losers were Canara Bank(4.54%), Federal Bank (2.45%), Bank Of Baroda (2.2%), Bank Of India (1.74%) and Allahabad Bank (0.77%).

Market Breadth

Market breadth was negative with 340 advances against 2,603 declines.

Value and Volume Toppers

State Bank Of India topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs. 1,938.83 million. It was followed by Tata Steel (Rs. 1,870.17 million), Jai Corp (Rs. 1,513.86 million) and D L F (Rs. 1,206.36 million).

The volume chart was led by Unitech with trades of over 13.37 million shares. It was followed by Suzlon Energy (11.21 million), Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (8.85 million) and National Fertilizers (8.39 million).


Results
Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) reported a phenomenal rise in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 2009. During the quarter, the profit of the company rose 46.20% to Rs 2,699.04 million from Rs 1,846.15 million in the same quarter last year. Consolidated total income has increased by 15.33% to Rs 9,978.92 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2009 from Rs 8,652.597 million for the same period last fiscal.

India`s largest consumer goods maker Hindustan Unilever (HUL) reported a marginal rise in standalone net profit for the quarter ended December 2009. During the quarter, the profit of the company rose 5.42% to Rs 6,491.10 million from Rs 6,157.40 million in the same period last year. Domestic consumer and FMCG sales grew 5%, driven by strong growth in Personal Products, Foods and Water. Underlying volume growth accelerated to 5% in the quarter. Total Income has increased by 4.53% to Rs 46,121.10 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2009 from Rs 44,122.10 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008.

KEC International, a global leader in the project management business and an RPG group company, registered a major jump of 84.80% on consolidated basis for the quarter ended December 2009. The power equipment maker, consolidated net profit rose to Rs 463.3 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2009. Net sales rose 7% to Rs 9,489.1 million for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, from Rs 8,868.4 million in the same period previous fiscal.