Sensex ends in red for second day; Realty plunges

The key benchmark indices settled in red for the second consecutive day on the back of discount rate hike by Fed and heavy sell off seen in realty,metal and consumer durable stocks. The Sensex started off in red amid weak Asian shares and continued to trade in the negative on sustained selling by funds across board. Later in the second half, it pared some of its losses to finally end on a lower note after touching a low of 16,074.58.

Brokers said sentiments on the domestic bourses were dampened by weak trend on the other Asian markets after the US Federal Reserve surprised everyone by hiking the interest rate on emergency loans to banks, triggering selling by funds.

At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex lost 136.21 or 0.83% at 16,191.63 with 26 components registering drop. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty went down by 42.85 or 0.88% at 4,844.90 with 44 components posting drop.

European stocks retreated as the Federal Reserve unexpectedly raised its discount rate, the first step in withdrawing stimulus for the world`s biggest economy. US index futures dropped

Sensex Movers

Reliance Industries contributed fall of 29.14 points in the Sensex. It was followed by State Bank Of India (12.97 points), ICICI Bank (12.8 points), Tata Steel (11.5 points) and Sterlite Industries (India) (11.12 points).

However, H D F C Bank contributed rise of 7.74 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Housing Development Finance Corporation (3.99 points), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (3.7 points), Maruti Suzuki India (1.64 points) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (0.04 points).

Major gainers in the 30-share index were HDFC Bank (0.94%), Maruti Suzuki India (0.63%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (0.59%), and Housing Development Finance Corporation (0.51%).

On the other hand, Jaiprakash Associates (4.35%), DLF (4.10%), Reliance Communications (3.37%), Sterlite Industries (India) (2.95%), Tata Steel (2.56%), and Reliance Infrastructure (2.54%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Mid & Small-cap Space

The BSE Midcap index was at 6432.36 down by 91.86 points or by 1.41%. The major losers were Aban Offshore (3.84%), Reliance MediaWorks (2.74%), Core Projects and Technologies (1.86%), A I A Engineering (1.66%) and Alstom Projects India (1.32%).

The BSE Smallcap index was at 8204.57 down by 130.54 points or by 1.57%. The major losers were INEOS ABS (India) (2.94%), Provogue (India) (2.22%), A B G Infralogistics (2.15%), Abhishek Industries (1.68%) and Aarti Industries (1%).

Sectors in Limelight

The Realty index was at 3,189.77, down by 111.19 points or by 3.37%. The major losers were Indiabulls Real Estate (6.21%), D L F (4.1%), Anant Raj Industries (3.74%), Ansal Properties and Infrastructure (2%) and Ackruti City (0.38%).

The Metal index was at 15,806.15, down by 403.66 points or by 2.49%. The major losers were Jai Corp (3.69%), Hindustan Zinc (3.36%), Jindal Steel & Power (2.02%), Hindalco Industries (1.55%) and Gujarat N R E Coke (1.43%).

The Consumer Durables index was at 4,078.69, down by 59.64 points or by 1.44%. The major losers were Videocon Industries (4.38%), Gitanjali Gems (1.98%), Titan Industries (1.11%), Rajesh Exports (0.65%) and Blue Star (0.2%).

On the other hand, the HC index was at 4,862.93, up by 3.49 points or by 0.07%. The major gainers were Glaxo SmithKline Pharmaceuticals (4.3%), Biocon (0.93%), Dr Reddy`S Laboratories (0.85%), Glenmark Pharmaceutical (0.6%) and Ipca Laboratories (0.53%).

Market Breadth

Market breadth was negative with 795 advances against 2,023 declines.

Value and Volume Toppers

HDFC Bank topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs. 1,506.71 million. It was followed by Reliance Industries (Rs. 956.63 million), State Bank Of India (Rs. 914.83 million) and Tata Steel (Rs. 843.53 million).

The volume chart was led by Cals Refineries with trades of over 14.55 million shares. It was followed by Unitech (11.87 million), Spicejet (7.52 million) and Suzlon Energy (5.77 million).