Sensex closes in red; HUL, RInfra drop

Indian equities continued to fall for the second day on Tuesday. The markets ended on a flat note with negative bias amid volatility. On sectoral front, IT, capital goods and power stocks edged lower, while banking, realty and PSU gained. It opened on a quiet note on the back of subdued Asian cues and continued to trade in a sluggish manner the entire day. Finally, the Sensex ended marginally lower after touching a low of 18,026 and high of 18,140.15. In the domestic front, India`s exports in July grew an annual 13.2% to USD 16.24 billion while the imports rose 34.3% to USD 29.17 billion.



At the close, the 30-share benchmark index, BSE Sensex ended flat with a decline of 1.93 points or 0.01% at 18,048.85, 19 components posting drop. while the broad based NSE Nifty closed flat with a decline of 4.15 points or 0.08%, at 5,414.15.32 components registering drop.

On global front, European stocks advanced, as Carlsberg A/S increased its earnings forecast and profits at companies from Schindler Holding AG to Wienerberger AG topped estimates. U.S. futures also gained.

Asian stocks end mixed, as gains among Australian banks and Hong Kong developers offset concern that the Japanese economy is weakening.

Sensex Movers

Reliance Industries contributed fall of 11.75 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Larsen & Toubro (8.42 points), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (6.02 points), Hindustan Unilever (6.01 points) and Infosys Technologies (4.5 points).

However, H D F C Bank contributed rise of 18.28 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Housing Development Finance Corporation (12.59 points), I T C (9.25 points), Hindalco Industries (6.63 points) and Grasim Industries (4.54 points).

Biggest gainers in the 30-share index were Hindalco Industries (2.34%), H D F C Bank (1.86%), Reliance Communications (1.50%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (1.26%), I T C (0.85%), and Hero Honda Motors (0.70%).

On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever (1.59%), Reliance Infrastructure (1.12%), Sterlite Industries (India) (0.97%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (0.87%), Tata Steel (0.74%), and Larsen & Toubro (0.68%) were the biggest losers in the Sensex.

Mid & Small-cap Space

The BSE Mid and small caps outperformed their larger counterparts gaining 0.60% and 0.34% respectively.

The major gainers in the BSE Midcap were Alstom Projects India (1.66%), Anant Raj Industries (1.57%), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (1.28%), A I A Engineering (0.85%) and Andhra Bank (0.7%).

The major gainers in the BSE Smallcap were Action Construction Equipment (8.31%), Aegis Logistics (6.4%), Adhunik Metaliks (3.81%), Aarti Industries (0.71%) and Advanta India (0.48%).

Sectors in Limelight

The Bankex index was at 12,247.28, up by 115.19 points or by 0.95%. The major gainers were Bank Of Baroda(6.2%), Canara Bank (2.6%), H D F C Bank (1.86%), Bank Of India (0.81%) and Federal Bank (0.67%).

The IPO index was at 2,195.23, up by 15.99 points or by 0.73%. The major gainers were D B Realty (3.39%), Den Networks (2.52%), D B Corp (2.31%), Aqua Logistics (0.38%) and Godrej Properties (0.05%).

The Realty index was at 3,643.51, up by 8.44 points or by 0.23%. The major gainers were D B Realty (3.39%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (2.84%), Anant Raj Industries (1.57%), Indiabulls Real Estate (0.46%) and Sunteck Realty (0.11%).

On the other hand, the IT index was at 5,460.69, down by 18.17 points or by 0.33%. The major losers were Mphasis (3.04%), H C L Technologies (1.01%), Wipro (0.46%), Tata Consultancy Services (0.43%) and Infosys Technologies (0.26%).

Market Breadth

Market breadth was negative with 1,469 advances against 1,549 declines.

Value and Volume Toppers

S K S Microfinance topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs. 3,603.65 million. It was followed by Midfield Industries (Rs. 1,437.67 million), Sesa Goa (Rs. 1,076.18 million) and L I C Housing Finance (Rs. 976.12 million).

The volume chart was led by FCS Software Solutions with trades of over 52.04 million shares. It was followed by I F C I (8.20 million), Midfield Industries (6.23 million) and Spicejet (4.49 million).