Sensex on a cloud of nervousness, ends 272 pts down

Escalating Japan’s nuclear crisis led fears across the globe, sending Sensex to close a bad day with losses of 272 points. RIL survives in weak environment

Major headlines

Tata Motors global sales up 14% in February

Siemens Healthcare merges with Siemens

RBI submits new banking draft guidelines to FM



Indian indices

Concerns of nuclear radiation in Japan post a devastating earthquake and tsunami led the world markets to fall drastically today. This led to panic selling among the investors, pressurising Indian markets all throughout the day. However, gains in index heavyweight Reliance Industries helped markets to trim some losses.

There were reports that two more blasts and a fire rocked a quake-stricken atomic power plant in Japan, sending radiation up to dangerous levels.

Radiation around the Fukushima No.1 plant on the eastern coast had risen considerably, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said, and his chief spokesman announced the level was now high enough to endanger human health.

Global tremor led the Sensex to begin the session with a steep fall of 325 points at 18114. The Sensex breached the 18000 mark and hit the day’s low of 17921 in early trade. Recovery in RIL helped the Sensex to trim some losses and hit the day’s high of 18326 in afternoon session. The Sensex tumbled 272 points to close at 18168 and the Nifty settled at 5450, down by 82 points.

Market sentiment

Rising shares outpaced the losing ones over two times. Out of the 2,927 stocks on the BSE, 1,979 fell while 847 surged. However, 101 stocks remained unchanged.

Sectoral and stock screening

Except oil & gas (up 0.32%), all sectors closed with huge cuts. BSE Realty was the worst hit, down by 3.14%. BSE Auto, BSE Metal and BSE Power fell over 2% each. Rest of the indices ended lower in the range of 0.65-1.99%.

Coming to 'A' group stocks, top three gainers - Central Bank of India surged by 2.35%, Castrol India rose by 2.19% and Apollo Tyres gained by 1.84%. Top three losers - National Aluminum Company lost by 9.50%, Bajaj Finserv slipped by 6.45% and Areva T&D declined 5.65%.

Viewing volumes

India’s second largest telecom firm - Reliance Communications was traded the most, with over 0.78 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. It was followed by wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.57 crore shares), ADAG financial firm - Reliance Capital (0.40 crore shares), India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech (0.33 crore shares) and leading tyre manufacturer - Apollo Tyres (0.27 crore shares).

Global signals

The European shares fell to their lowest in 14 weeks on Tuesday after Japan warned of significantly higher radiation levels following explosions at one of its quake-stricken nuclear power plants.

All the major Asian indices ended in deep red on Tuesday on Japan nuke worries. Japan’s Nikkei index plummeted around 11%, posting the worst two-day rout since 1987.

The US stock index futures tumbled as Japan faced a looming nuclear crisis. This has set the stage for a weak opening on the Wall Street.

Market Outlook: In the US, FOMC rate decision will be out.