Sensex slips 213 points on profit booking

The sentiments turned weak as investors booked profits after two days gains. The Sensex slid 213 points and the Nifty dropped 60 points

Major headlines

Lupin soars as Japanese firm in talks to buy stake

Tata Chemicals acquires stake in EPM Mining

Kiri Industries wins $20 million export order



Indian indices

Profit booking picked up pace in the late trade mainly in banking, auto, metal, capital goods and technology shares pushing the key benchmark indices to intraday lows. Out of the 30 Sensex stocks, 27 fell which further weighed on the markets. Moody's downgraded Japan's credit rating, which led to a fall in the Asian stocks and dampened the sentiments. However,? positive European cues failed to provide support. The markets were almost lacklustre for most part of session but profit booking across the board in late trade led to a weak closing.

Sensex movements: The Sensex started the trade flat, 8 points lower at 16491 and turned green to hit the day’s high of 16533 in early trade. The index was trading in a tight range amid listless session. Heavy profit booking in last half hour of trade pulled the index to day’s low of 16254. The Sensex fell 213 points to close at 16285 and the Nifty declined 60 points at 4889.

Market sentiment:

The market breadth stood negative. Of the 2953 stocks traded on the BSE, 1313 (44.46%) rose, 1528 (51.74%) fell and 112 (3.79%) remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

All the 13 sectors closed the session in the negative territory. BSE Auto was the biggest loser falling by 2.31%, then comes BSE Metal down by 2.26% and BSE Bankex slipped by 1.64%. Remaining sectors fell in the range of 0.04-1.42%.

In 'A' group stocks, top gainers - Mundra Port And Special Economic Zone shot up by 6.16%, Pipavav Shipyard rose by 3.64% and Lupin surged by 2.67%. Top losers - Pantaloon Retail (India) dipped by 6.32%, HDIL lost by 6.15% and Manappuram Finance fell by 5.60%.

Viewing volumes

A unit of infrastructure major GVK Group - GVK Power & Infrastructure was the top traded share, with over 0.40 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.37 crore shares), a financial institution specializing in l ending to power projects - Power Finance Corporation (0.22 crore shares), a major Indian telecommunication company - Reliance Communications (0.20 crore shares) and industrial finance company - IFCI (0.19 crore shares).

Global signals

The European stocks advanced on Wednesday, supported by hopes of further monetary stimulus from the US Federal Reserve.

The Asian markets closed on a negative note on Wednesday as Moody's Investors Service's downgrade of Japan's sovereign debt rating spurred some foreign investors to take profits.

The US stock index futures point to a lower opening on the Wall Street on Wednesday.

Market Outlook: Data releases in the US include MBA Mortgage Applications, House Price Index and Durable Goods Order.