Sensex stumbles on heavy volume...New listings sizzle

It was a day of heavy losses on Dalal Street. The Indian markets ended the day with sharp losses ahead of the F&O expiry tomorrow. This time the fall came with huge volumes. The total turnover surpassed Rs. 2 lakh crores.



The main Indian indices fell for the second straight day, with the NSE Nifty losing nearly 80 points in two days. The fall was led by Realty and FMCG stocks. Even the Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap stocks closed lower after initially holding firm.

"The Sensex and the Nifty opened at the day's high, and almost immediately started losing ground gradually. The selling accelerated in the afternoon as investors chose to lighten their positions in the wake of a few disappointing earnings. Sentiment was also partly hit due to weak Asian markets and lower opening in European markets," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex slipped 216 points to close at 20,005. The NSE Nifty lost 69 points to close at 6,012.

Barring the BSE consumer Durables index all the other BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. The BSE Consumer Durables index was the top gainer, the index gained 0.5%. Among the top loses, BSE Realty index lost 2.1% and the FMCG index was down 1.6%, BSE IT index was down 1.4% and BSE Teck index was down 1.4%.

The broader indices were under pressure as well, the BSE Mid-Cap index ended lower by 0.3% and BSE Small-Cap index edged lower by 0.3%.

The European indices were trading almost flat, the DAX in Germany was almost unchanged, the CAC 40 index in France was marginally up 0.2% and FTSE index was up 0.4%.

Outside the frontline indices, the big losers in the broader market were Union Bank, Corp Bank, GSPL, P&G and RCF. On the other hand, gainers included Jet Airways, IRB Infra, Shriram Trans, IDBI Bank and Titan.