Indices below key levels

Major headlines

Tata Consultancy Services joins hands with British Airways; the stock closes higher by 0.08%

Lupin's arm acquires stake in Generic Health; the stock closes 1.58% down

Punj Lloyd signs pact with Nuvia India; the stock ends 3.24% lower



Indian indices

The domestic indices ended the disappointing session on a weak note for the second consecutive day. Profit booking in commodities, especially metals, dragged the Sensex and the Nifty below their psychological levels of 20000 and 6000 respectively at the close. The Small-cap and the Mid-cap indices also closed with significant losses. The turnover was also on the lower side ahead of the F&O expiry.

Nation’s biggest copper and zinc producer, Sterlite Industries, sank the most in more than a year after a court ordered for closer of its only smelter for breaching environment standards. Bharti Airtel, the nation’s largest mobile phone operator, dropped for the first time in four days. Heavy selling was seen in metal, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and oil & gas stocks. However, auto and realty stocks witnessed some buying interest.

The Sensex commenced the session 18 points lower at 20087. The index soon turned positive and hit the day’s high of 20234 in initial trades. The Sensex started to erase its gains and slipped in to the negative zone in the mid-morning session. The index continued its southbound journey in the afternoon session, as the European markets opened lower. The Sensex hit the day’s low of 19923 in the last hour of trades as selling intensified in metal and FMCG stocks.

At the closing bell, the Sensex shut at 19956, 148 points lower. The Nifty ended at 5991, down by 38 points.

Bond and Rupee update: India’s rupee rose to its strongest level in more than four months, as overseas investors pumped record funds into local shares this year to benefit from the nation’s relatively fast economic growth. India’s ten-year bonds rose to their highest level in six weeks on speculation that the slowing inflation will convince the central bank to hold off from adding to this year’s five interest-rate increases.

Market Outlook: We have crude oil inventories data in the US tonight and we are having September series expiry for the Indian markets tomorrow (September 30, 2010).

Market sentiment

The market breadth was weak for the second straight day as declining stocks outdid the gaining ones. Out of the 3,086 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,822 fell while 1,128 rose. Hundred and thirty-six stocks remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

Of the 13 sector indices on the BSE, ten closed in the red while three ended in the green. BSE Information Technology (IT) was the top performer, rose by 0.24%, followed by BSE Auto and BSE Heath Care (HC) that surged marginally by 0.08% and 0.02% respectively. On the other hand, BSE Metal was the major loser, fell by 1.92%, followed by BSE FMCG that declined by 1.42% and BSE Consumer Durables (CD) slipped by 1.16%.

Among 'A' group stocks, Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals posted gains of 4.21%, followed by Alstom Projects that surged by 3.91% and Godrej Consumer Products rose by 3.05%. On the flip side, Sterlite Industries plunged by 8.50% after the Madras High Court ordered closure of the company’s copper smelting unit, followed by IVRCL Infrastructure that slid by 3.93% and Hindustan Zinc declined by 3.37%.

Viewing volumes

India’s biggest copper and zinc producer, Sterlite Industries was the most traded, with over 0.76 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by India’s second largest developer - Unitech (0.45 crore shares), industrial finance company - IFCI (0.35 crore shares), wind turbine major- Suzlon Energy (0.34 crore shares) and government’s hydro power firm - NHPC (0.22 crore shares).

Global signals

The European shares declined in today’s trade, with investor uncertainty about the global economic recovery weighing and retailers slipping as Hennes & Mauritz missed quarterly profit forecasts.

All the major Asian indices closed in the positive territory today except China’s Shanghai Composite.

The US stock index futures point towards a lower opening on the Wall Street tonight, ahead of the weekly mortgage market index.