Sensex, Nifty recover to end slightly lower

The Indian market ended marginally lower on the day, with the key indices staging a smart recovery towards the close of trade after being under pressue for most part of the day.



The NSE Nifty managed to close above 5400 but the BSE Sensex ended below 18,000 amid concern that strong GDP growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal year will force the RBI to hike interest rates further.

"India's Q1 FY11 GDP came in at 8.8% as against 8.6% in the last quarter of the previous financial year. The reading was in line with consensus estimates," says Amar Ambani, VP - Research, India Private Clients, IIFL.

This was the best GDP growth in two and a half years for India and came on the back of improved performance of Agriculture and Services sector.

The sentiment was also partly affected jittery amid continued weakness in global markets amid increasing signs of a slowdown in key economies, especially in the US.

The Sensex closed at 17,970, down 62 points or 0.34% over the previous close. It opened at day's high of 18,015 and went on to touch the day's low of 17,819.

The Nifty ended at 5,397, down nearly 17 points or 0.33%, after touching a low of 5,348. It had opened at the day's high of 5,413.

The BSE Small-Cap index and the BSE Mid-Cap index were down by 0.9% and 0.5% respectively.

Barring FMCG, Auto and IT indices, all other BSE sectoral indices closed in the red.

RCOM, Jaiprakash Associates, RIL, Jindal Steel, DLF, SBI, BHEL, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Sterlite, HDFC, ACC, HCL Tech, Siemens, Suzlon, Cipla and IDFC were among the big losers in the main indices.

M&M, ITC, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Infosys and Wipro were among the notables gainers in the main indices.

United Breweries, Uttam Galva, Adani Enterprise, Radico Khaitan, Emami, JK Cement, Colgate Palmolive, Marico and United Spirits were some of the key gainers in the broader market.

EIH, Gitanjali Gems, State Bank of Travancore, Jet Airways, Emco, Raymond, REI Agro, Subex, wockhardt, HCL Infosystems, Peninsula Land, Laco Infra, Indusind Bank, Pantaloon, Bombay dyeing, NDTV, Godrej Properties, GMR Infra, Union Bank, HDIL, Orbit Corp. and DB Realty were among the notable losers outside the main indices.

Global Markets

In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan slumped 3.6% to end at 8,824 while the Shanghai Composite index in China was down 0.5% at 2,765 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell by nearly 1% to 20,536. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index sank 1.7.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was the worst performer among major Asian market benchmarks in August, losing 7.5% during the month as the yen's strength against major currencies and global economic worries hit the nation's exporters.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gave up 2.5%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 2% and Taiwan's Taiex fell 1.9%.

China's Shanghai Composite and New Zealand's NZX 50 ended little changed in August.

Stocks fell across the globe today and were heading for the worst month since May on growing concerns that the worldwide economic recovery is losing steam.

The MSCI World Index slipped 0.7% at 10:35 a.m. in London, extending this month’s decline to 4.3%.

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures decreased 0.3%.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 1.1% as 10 shares fell for every one that advanced. The FTSE 100 and CAC 40 were down 0.9% each while the DAX in Frankfurt shed 0.7%.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index lost 1%, ending a three-day advance