Weak Infy nos, heavy sell-off drag Nifty 111 pts

Below expectation Q3 numbers of Infosys technologies and selling in banking stocks pulled Nifty down 111 points, hitting four month low of 5752.

Major headlines

Infosys Q3 results lag estimates; stock falls

Sintex Inds Q3 net profit rises 56% yoy

JB Chemicals Q3 net profit at Rs38.1 crore



Indian indices

Indian benchmarks were slaughtered today in a completely volatile session due to heavy selling in index heavyweights. Financials and technology companies alongwith heavyweight Reliance Industries witnessed selling pressure post disappointing Infosys Technologies Q3 numbers. Weak Q4 forecast by Infosys Technologies further dampened the market sentiments that dragged the Nifty to close at four-month low.

Infosys was the leading dragger with nearly 5% fall, followed by heavyweights like Reliance Industries, NTPC, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services. Healthcare, FMCG, capital goods, power, select auto and metal companies' shares were other losers in trade. However, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Tata Motors, DLF, Ambuja Cements, ACC, Sterlite Industries, Cairn India and Bajaj Auto were gainers.

Bankex cracked 3%, as State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC were down 2.5-4%. In midcap space, Dewan Housing, Ispat Industries, Jubilant Foodworks, Money Matters and Manappuram were up 3.5-4.6% while Amtek Auto, Godfrey Phillip, Kirloskar Oil, Indiabulls Financial and UCO Bank lost 3.7-5%.

The Sensex opened todays session lower by 42 points at 19492. The Index erased losses and hit the day’s high of 19522 in the late morning session. However, from day’s high index soon started to move southward. The Sensex fell sharply in afternoon session to hit the day’s low of 19136 in last hour of the trading as selling pressure was seen across the board.

Finally, at closing bell the Sensex closed at 19183, lower by 351 points and the Nifty shut 111 points lower at 5752.

Bond & Rupee update: The Indian rupee opened at 45.04 per dollar versus 45.13 yesterday. The bond market may remain steady today with investors drawing comfort from the improvement in the liquidity situation.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was negative, as the declining shares outpaced the advancing ones. Out of the 2,981 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,691 declined while 1,104 rose. Whereas, hundred and eighty-four stocks traded unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

All the 13 sectoral indices ended the session in negative terrain except BSE Realty that rose by 0.54%. Among losers, BSE Bankex was the worst performer by declining 3.53%, followed by BSE Information Technologies (IT), which slid by 3.41%. BSE TECk too dropped by 2.76%. Rest of the indices ended the session lower in the range of 0.27-2.70%.

In 'A' group stocks, top performer was Adani Enterprises that rose by 3.85% followed by Ambuja Cement that surged 2.72% and Ultratech Cement declined 2.69%. While, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation was the worst performer sliding 5.15% followed by Pantaloon Retail, which dropped 5.06%, and Infosys Technology dipped 4.82%.

Viewing volumes

Wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy was the most traded scrip with over 1.01 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by India’s second largest developer - Unitech (0.60 crore shares), Industrial finance company - IFCI (0.38 crore shares), Jaypee group firm – Jaiprakash Associates (0.25 crore shares) and Mumbai based infrastructure firm – Housing Development & Infrastructure (0.23 crore shares).

Global signals

European shares were trading mixed in early trade, ahead of bond auctions from Spain and Italy, and interest rate decisions at central banks.

All the major Asian markets ended the session in the positive territory except Korea’s Kospi index that ended the session in negative territory with a loss of 0.26%.

The US stock index futures pointed to a lower opening on the Wall Street ahead of weekly jobless claims data, December producer prices and the November international trade numbers.

Market outlook: In US, we have weekly jobless claims data, December producer prices and the November international trade numbers