Sensex drifts lower in listless session

After starting the pre-Diwali week with smart gains on Monday, the Indian market seemed to lose some steam and eventually ended with moderate losses at the end of a lackluster session.


After opening with a positive bias, the bulls were unable to sustain the early gains as sentiment remained muted amid lack of incremental triggers. Metals and Banking stocks were the major laggards while Auto and Consumer Durables stocks were among the top gainers.




"The key indices continue to be in a sideways consolidation after last month's stellar rally. The broader market today was looking good but even the mid-cap shares lost momentum by the close. A few small-caps did however did manage to eke out some gains. Results are pouring in but are not having any material impact on sentiment. Global cues too remain indecisive", says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.


The BSE Sensex slipped 81 points to close at 20,221. It had earlier been as low as 20,189 and as high as 20,344. It had opened at 20,325.


The NSE Nifty lost 24 points to close at 6,082 after touching a day's peak of 6,120 and a day's low of 6,074.


Among the BSE sectoral indices, the Consumer Durables index was the top gainer, rising by almost 2% followed by Auto index (0.6%) and the FMCG index (0.5%). On the other hand, the BSE Metal index was down 1.2% and the BSE Banking index was down 0.9%.


The broader indices finished mixed with the BSE Mid-Cap index losing 0.4% while the BSE Small-Cap index edged higher by 0.2%.


The advance-decline ratio on the BSE was negative with 1,557 shares falling and 1,408 shares rising.


Within the Sensex and Nifty, the top losers were Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, HUL, SBI, RCOM, ONGC, Hindalco, BHEL, Jindal Steel, HDFC, Cairn India, BPCL, Ambuja Cement, Kotak Bank, Sesa Goa, Ranbaxy, PowerGrid, Gail and Siemens.


Among the notable gainers in the two main indices included Maruti, Reliance Capital, ITC, JP Associates, DLF, IDFC, Cipla and Reliance Infra.


Jai Balaji Inds, Subex, Tata Elxsi, Dena Bank, Titan Inds, Info Edge, Deccan Chronicle and Uttam Galva were among the top gainers in the broader market. Ashok Leyland, Godrej Industries, Dish TV and United Spirits were the other main winners today.


United Phosphorus, Deepak Fertilizers, Mahindra Holidays, Koutons Retail, Ashapura Minechem, Zuari Inds, Onmobile Global and Core Projects were among the big losers in the BSE 500 index. Idea, Petronet LNG, IRB Infra and Indiabulls Financials lost 3-3.5%.


In the global markets, main stock indices in Asia all ended in the red today. The Nikkei in Tokyo was down 0.2% while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite index in China slipped 0.3% and the S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 0.5%.


The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.2% to 131.23 as of 2:04 p.m. in Tokyo, snapping its two-day advance of 1.4%.


European indices were also trading in the red with the DAX in Germany down 0.3%, the CAC 40 index in France falling 0.8 and FTSE index down 0.9%.


The Stoxx 600 lost 0.3% to 266.66 as of 12:31 p.m. in London. The regional stock benchmark pared losses of as much as 0.7% after official figures showed that the UK's economy grew at twice the pace forecast by economists in the third quarter.