Sensex ends sharply lower; Realty, metal drop

The Sensex wrapped on a depressing note weighed by realty, metal, auto and IT stocks. After a flat-to-positive opening, the index fell into the red due to profit booking. It continued to trade in a sluggish manner till noon. In the second half, the market slipped further on the back of aggressive sell-off witnessed across board,and negative opening of European market pulled down the sentiment. Finally, it closed sharply lower after touching a low of 16,188.80.

Food inflation inched up to 17.56% for the week ended January 23, on account of rising prices of potato and pulses. The wholesale price-based food inflation was 17.40% in the previous week.

At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex declined 271.10 or 1.64% at 16,224.95 with 27 components registering drop. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty went down by 86.50 or 1.75% at 4,845.35 with 45 components posting drop.

On global front, European stocks open negative, after earnings reports from companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Zurich Financial Services and Vodafone Group. US futures dropped.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks dropped, dragging the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lower for the first time in three days, after Australian retail sales unexpectedly fell in December and commodity prices declined.

Sensex Movers

Reliance Industries contributed fall of 31.24 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Infosys Technologies (29.88 points), Housing Development Finance Corporation (26.57 points), State Bank Of India (18.57 points) and Tata Steel (18.17 points).

However, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation contributed rise of 3.47 points in the Sensex. It was followed by ITC (2.72 points), Hero Honda Motors (0.07 points), Reliance Infrastructure (0.56 points) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (0.62 points).

Biggest gainers in the 30-share index were Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (0.56%), I T C (0.32%), and Hero Honda Motors (0.03%).

On the other hand, Hindalco Industries (6.37%), Jaiprakash Associates (4.59%), Tata Motors (4.36%), D L F (4.33%), Tata Steel (3.85%), and Reliance Communications (3.60%) were the major losers in the Sensex.

Mid & Small-cap Space

The BSE Midcap index was at 6517.14 down by 129.45 points or by 1.95%.The major losers were Reliance MediaWorks (3.93%), A I A Engineering (2.5%), Aban Offshore (1.8%), Alstom Projects India (0.75%) and Core Projects and Technologies (0.21%).

The BSE Smallcap index was at 8344.74 down by 136.27 points or by 1.61%.The major losers were Abhishek Industries (3.76%), Provogue (India) (2.82%), Aarti Industries (2.62%), A B G Shipyard (1.96%) and A B G Infralogistics (1.25%).


Sectors in Limelight

The Realty index was at 3,398.59, down by 137.63 points or by 3.89%. The major losers were D L F (4.33%), Anant Raj Industries (3.15%), Ansal Properties and Infrastructure (3.02%), Indiabulls Real Estate (2.82%) and Ackruti City (2.14%).

The Metal index was at 16,044.79, down by 557.34 points or by 3.36%. The major losers were Hindalco Industries (6.37%), Jai Corp (5.38%), Hindustan Zinc (4.67%), Jindal Steel & Power (1.52%) and Gujarat N R E Coke (0.85%).

The Auto index was at 6,941.36, down by 150.12 points or by 2.12%. The major losers were Bharat Forge (3.14%), Escorts (3.09%), Apollo Tyres (1.96%), Bajaj Auto (1.56%) and Amtek Auto (0.34%).

The IT index was at 4,917.98, down by 105.35 points or by 2.1%. The major losers were Mphasis (4.34%), Oracle Financial Services Software (3.8%), H C L Technologies (3.38%), Infosys Technologies (1.9%) and Aptech (1.34%).


Market Breadth

Market breadth was negative with 841 advances against 2,029 declines.

Value and Volume Toppers

Infinite Computer Solutions (India) topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs. 2,484.90 million. It was followed by State Bank Of India (Rs. 1,531.42 million), Tata Steel (Rs. 1,181.75 million) and Aban Offshore (Rs. 839.34 million).

The volume chart was led by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision with trades of over 14.27 million shares. It was followed by Dynamic Infotel (11.93 million), Infinite Computer Solutions (India) (11.84 million) and I F C I (7.32 million).