Sensex closes 140 points lower as realty weighs

Profit booking across the board led the Sensex to end the day 140 points down, with major pressure coming in from realty and auto stocks.

Major headlines

Tata Steel sales up 4% in FY11

Local car sales rise 24% in March

Hindustan Zinc gains on strong metal production in Q4



Indian indices

The domestic markets lost ground in trade today as investors booked profits across the board. Rising crude oil prices could be one reason behind today's sell-off. The broader indices also witnessed a fall today after its recent strong upmove. Realty and auto shares put pressure on the markets. Profit booking in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, DLF, ONGC, Wipro, SBI and in majority of the sectors dragged the markets lower. Positive global cues failed to lift the domestic markets. The key indices were moving sideways for the past three sessions after rallying around 10%.

Top Sensex losers were Jaiprakash Associates, DLF, Hindalco, Tata Motors and Reliance Infrastructure. While, Bharti Airtel, ITC, L&T, BHEL and HUL were the top gainers.

The Sensex rose 12 points at 19603 in the opening trade and climbed higher to hit the day’s high of 19697 in the early session. Gains were short-lived as the index slipped into the negative zone and traded lower for the rest of the session. In late trade, the Sensex fell further to hit the day’s low of 19388. The Sensex closed at 19451, down by 140 points and the Nifty fell 44 points to settle at 5842.

Market sentiment

The market breadth stood negative. Of the 3,038 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,002 rose while 1,947 fell. However, 89 stocks remained unchanged.

Viewing volumes

Wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy was traded the most, with over 1.28 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. It was followed by India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech (0.40 crore shares), an industrial finance company - IFCI (0.30 crore shares), cement major - Ambuja Cements (0.28 crore shares) and leading oil exploration firm - Hindustan Oil Exploration Company (0.22 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

All the sectors were under pressure barring BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) up 0.39% and BSE Capital Goods (CG) up by 0.15%. BSE Realty was the top loser, declining by 2.52%, followed by BSE Auto down by 1.87% and BSE Consumer Durables (CD) lost by 1.48%.

Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were - Procter & Gamble jumped by 6.46%, Essar Oil surged by 5.23% and Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals rose by 3.75%. Top three losers were - Jai Corp dropped by 5.57%, Indian Bank slipped by 5.54% and Bajaj Holdings and Investment slipped by 4.51%.

Global signals

The European markets rose on Friday, resuming a brisk three-week rally after the European Central Bank's decision to raise interest rates helped fuel optimism over the health of the euro zone economy.

The Asian indices ended on a higher note on Friday. Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.9% to close at the highest level since the March 11 earthquake.

The US stock index futures signal to a higher opening on the Wall Street on Friday.