Sensex ends below 17,500; Oil & gas, metal drop

Indian equities dropped on Wednesday erasing earlier gains. The Sensex ended on a depressing note due to global meltdown. All sectoral indices traded in red except consumer duable and teck. Oil & gas, metal and banking stocks faced the brunt of profit booking.



It opened flat with positive bias and soon fell into the negative terrain in line with Asian cues. As the day progressed, the index fell further as selling intensified across board, further European market opening in red also dampened the sentiment. Finally, it closed on a weak note after touching a low of 17,447.15 and high of 17,623.66.

At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex declined 143.45 points or 0.81% at 17,471.03. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty went down by 47.95 points or 0.91% at 5,241.10.

European stocks resumed their retreat, sending the Stoxx Europe 600 Index lower for the sixth time in seven days, as CRH led a selloff in construction companies. Asian shares and US index futures declined.

Most Asian stocks fell, a day after the MSCI World Index had its biggest gain in almost a month, and US index futures dropped on concern profit growth may disappoint investors. The yen strengthened and Spanish bonds declined.

Sensex Movers

Reliance Industries contributed fall of 45.16 points in the Sensex. It was followed by I C I C I Bank (17.71 points), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (13.43 points), Housing Development Finance Corporation (12.53 points) and H D F C Bank (10.35 points).

However, Bharti Airtel contributed rise of 8.39 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Tata Consultancy Services (4.32 points), Reliance Communications (2.81 points), Bharat Heavy Electricals (0.26 points) and Grasim Industries (0.11 points).

Biggest gainers in the 30-share index were Bharti Airtel (1.86%), Reliance Communications (1.59%), Tata Consultancy Services (0.77%), and Bharat Heavy Electricals (0.05%).

On the other hand, Tata Motors (2.22%), Sterlite Industries (India) (2.12%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (1.87%), Reliance Industries (1.83%), I C I C I Bank (1.47%), and Housing Development Finance Corporation (1.29%) were the biggest losers in the Sensex.

Mid & Small-cap Space

The BSE Mid and small caps outperformed their larger counterparts declining 0.06% and 0.12% respectively.

The major losers in the BSE Midcap were Allcargo Global Logistics (1.32%), A I A Engineering (1.18%), Alstom Projects India (0.75%), Ackruti City (0.32%) and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (0.16%).

The major losers in the BSE Smallcap were INEOS ABS (India) (2.54%), Abhishek Industries (1.21%), A B G Infralogistics (1.1%), Aarti Industries (0.48%) and A B G Shipyard (0.46%).

Sectors in Limelight

The Oil & Gas index was at 10,489.76, down by 181.11 points or by 1.7%. The major losers were Essar Oil (1.69%), G A I L (India) (1.64%), Cairn India (1.36%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (0.68%) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (0.34%).

The Metal index was at 14,414.97, down by 179.95 points or by 1.23%. The major losers were Sesa Goa (2.77%), Hindalco Industries (1.25%), JSW Steel (1.13%), Jindal Steel & Power (0.77%) and Hindustan Zinc (0.62%).

The IPO index was at 2,110.16, down by 21.88 points or by 1.03%. The major losers were Indiabulls Power (1.62%), ARSS Infrastructure Projects (1.46%), Adani Power (1.31%), Greenearth Resources and Projects (0.74%) and D B Corp (0.06%).

On the other hand, the Consumer Durables index was at 4,848.27, up by 41.33 points or by 0.86%. The major gainers were Gitanjali Gems (3.2%), Whirlpool Of India (2.97%), Rajesh Exports (0.62%), Blue Star (0.46%) and Bajaj Electricals (0.2%).


Market Breadth

Market breadth was negative with 1,354 advances against 1,584 declines.

Value and Volume Toppers

Everonn Education topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs. 1,514.62 million. It was followed by JSW Steel (Rs. 987.36 million), Aban Offshore (Rs. 981.65 million) and Tata Steel (Rs. 857.05 million).

The volume chart was led by FCS Software Solutions with trades of over 36.01 million shares. It was followed by Cals Refineries (14.68 million), I F C I (14.51 million) and L M L (6.80 million).