Sensex closes 148 points lower on global woes

After posting strong gains in the previous trade, the Indian markets fell today on concerns of economic crisis in the Europe

Major Headlines

Food inflation at 10.6% versus 9.32%

Housing finance companies shares witness pressure

Bajaj Auto declines after Q2 results

Biocon Q2 net profit falls by 22%

Exide Industries hits monthly low after Q2 results



Indian indices

The Indian markets came under pressure today after posting strong gains in the previous trade. Profit booking led the markets to close the session lower. Major heavyweight draggers — HDFC, ICICI Bank, L&T, Tata Motors, JP Associates, ITC, BHEL and RIL.

Sentiment was also weighed down by risk aversion across world markets ahead of a weekend meeting of European leaders to tackle the euro zone debt problem. Weakness in the global stocks owing to concerns of economic crisis in the Europe further dragged the markets.

Sensex movements: The Sensex opened the trade 173 points lower at 16912 and remained under pressure. The index hit the day’s low of 16745 in the early afternoon session on sell-off across the board and weak opening of European markets. Later the index began to trim losses and hit the day’s high of 16962 in last half hour of trade as some buying was seen at support levels. The Sensex closed 148 points lower at 16937 and the Nifty stood at 5092, down by 47 points.

Market sentiment:

The market breadth was weak. Of the 2918 stocks traded on the BSE, 1126 (38.59%) gained, 1664 (57.03%) plunged and 128 (4.39%) were unchanged.

Viewing volumes

A leading super speciality hospitals in India - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise traded the most with over 0.41 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Following that Indian shipbuilder - Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company (0.32 crore shares), a pioneering leader in the management and application of electrical energy - Crompton Greaves (0.29 crore shares), an India-based tyre manufacturer - Apollo Tyres (0.26 crores shares) and the country’s largest lead acid storage battery - Exide Industries (0.19 crores shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

Eleven sectors closed lower, while two rose. Gainers — BSE TECk rose by 0.27% and BSE IT up by 0.23%. Top Losers — BSE Realty declined by 2.04%, BSE Auto down by 1.50%, BSE Power fell by 1.34% and BSE CG slipped by 1.27%.

In 'A' group stocks, major gainers — Nestle India surged by 3.46%, Bajaj Finserv rose by 2.84% and HCL Technologies advanced by 1.88%. Major losers — Exide Industries declined by 7.46%, LIC Housing Finance down by 6.37% and Housing Development Finance Corporation fell by 4.27%.

Global indices

The European stock markets fell on Thursday (October 20, 2011), with financial shares feeling the pinch on escalating worries about whether progress will be made on the region's debt crisis at a key European Union summit this weekend.

The Asian stocks slid on Thursday, with the benchmark regional index headed to its lowest close in more than a week, amid uncertainty about European bailout-fund talks and as US companies grew more pessimistic about the outlook for the world's largest economy.

The US Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on the Wall Street on Thursday.

Market Outlook: In the US, data releases include — Weekly Jobless Claims, Existing Home Sales and General Business Conditions Index.