Volatile markets end at two-month low

The Indian markets witnessed volatility and took a cut in the last hour to close the session at two-month low; realty sector was the worst performer

Major headlines

Food inflation eases to 10.15%

Power Grid Corporation slips on FPO listing; the stock closes 0.36% lower

Larsen & Toubro secures Rs1,030 crore orders; the stock ends 3.48% down



Indian indices

It was a volatile session, with the Indian markets closing at two-month low. The markets remained rangebound during early hours of the trade but took a cut in the last hour. The lingering effect of housing finance scam could be the reason behind today's sell-off. Volatility was witnessed as traders squared off positions on settlement day of November F&O series.

Realty was the worst hit in today's trade and primarily it was the housing scam that had its negative impact on the sector. Realty major, DLF declined over 4%, while D B Realty slipped by 10%.

The Sensex began the session 100 points higher at 19560 tracking strong global cues. The index hit the day’s high of 19628 in the morning session and remained range bound. The index started to trim gains and turned negative in the afternoon trade. The Sensex witnessed volatility and hit the day’s low of 19257 in the last hour of trade.

At the closing, the Sensex shut at 19318, lower by 142 points. The Nifty ended at 5800, down by 66 points.

Bond & Rupee Update: India’s 10-year bonds fell for a second day on concern a shortage of cash in the financial system will make it more expensive to buy debt with borrowed funds. India’s rupee traded near a two-month low as investors favoured the perceived safety of the dollar over emerging market assets on concern a debt crisis is spreading in Europe.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was extremely weak as falling stocks outnumbered the rising ones almost three times. Of the 3,056 stocks on the BSE, 2,203 declined while 743 surged. Hundred and ten stocks traded unchanged.

Sectoral and stock screening

Out of the 13 sectors, 11 closed in the red while rest two in the green. BSE Information Technology (IT) and BSE TECk were the gaining sectors, up by 1.23% and 0.92% respectively. Among laggards, BSE Realty took a heavy beating for the second consecutive day, sliding by 5.40% on account of housing loan scam. BSE Capital Goods (CG) and BSE PSU declined by 2.88% and 2.65% respectively.

Looking into 'A' group stocks, Central Bank of India gained the most, up by 5.79%, followed by GTL Infrastructure that surged by 3.11% and Apollo Tyres advanced by 2.84%. On the flip side, Hindustan Construction Company slid the most, down by 10.97%, followed by DB Realty that declined by 9.99% and Housing Development & Infrastructure fell by 9.69%.

Viewing volumes

Government's power utility - Power Grid Corporation was traded the most, with over 6.93 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by housing finance firm - LIC Housing Finance (0.82 crore shares), industrial finance company - IFCI (0.50 crore shares), India's second largest developer - Unitech (0.49 crore shares) and wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.47 crore shares).

Global signals

The European shares nudged higher as a strong finish on the Wall Street and firmer Asian equities following encouraging US economic numbers increased the risk appetite of investors, though caution prevailed.

All the major Asian markets ended on a higher note. Shanghai Composite and Jakarta composite closed with gains of over 1%.

The US markets will remain shut tonight owing to Thanksgiving holiday.

Market Outlook: Thanksgiving holiday in the US.