Market struggles; Sensex loses 107 points at close

It again turned out to be a weak closing, with the Sensex falling by 107 points and the Nifty declining by 38 points

Major headlines

PSU OMCs drop after reduction in petrol prices

MSCI index: Bharti, Idea, PFC enter while SAIL, HDIL exit

Sintex Inds hits 52-week low on concerns over FCCB, Europe exposure

Titan to buy brand Favre Leuba



Indian indices

The Indian markets struggled to recover in the last couple of hours but could not make it and closed the trade on a weak note. Today’s sharp fall was led by heavy losses in the capital goods’ stocks alongwith power, oil & gas, technology, pharma, PSU and banking stocks further dragging markets. The Nifty slipped below the 5000 mark during the day.

Major losses in L&T, BHEL, RIL, HDFC, HDFC Bank Hero MotoCorp, JP Associates, Sun Pharma, Wipro, Hindalco and Coal India weighed heavily on the markets. Ongoing euro zone debt crisis continued to dominate sentiments.

Sensex movements: The Sensex started the session 10 points lower at 16872 and continued to trade in red. In the mid-afternoon session, the index witnessed sharp cut on all-round selling and touched an intraday low of 16642. However, the index showed some recovery in late trade led by positive European cues and hit an intraday high of 16878. Then the index fell again to close weak. The Sensex shut shop at 16776, down by 107 points lower and the Nifty fell by 38 points to close at 5030.

Market sentiment:

The market breadth was extremely weak. Of the 2942 stocks traded on the BSE, 899 (30.56%) rose, 1937 (65.84%) fell and 106 (3.60%) were unchanged.

Viewing volumes:

Sugar making company - Shree Renuka Sugars saw highest trading with over 0.82 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. Then comes, wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.52 crore shares), a real estate development company - HDIL (0.37 crore shares), an integrated infrastructure development company - Lanco Infratech (0.34 crore shares) and India's second largest developer - Unitech (0.34 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening:

Among the 13 sectoral indices, nine closed in red. Top performers — BSE CD rose by 0.56%. BSE FMCG advanced by 0.51% and BSE Metal surged by 0.15%. Top losers — BSE CG fell by 3.88%, BSE Power down by 2.02% and BSE Oil & Gas declined by 1.27%.

In 'A' group stocks, biggest gainers — Pantaloon Retail (India) up by 10.60%, Jubilant Foodworks rose by 4.92% and United Spirits rose by 4.74%. Weak movers — Sintex Industries declined by 9.75%, Jaypee Infratech fell by 9.05% and Mundra Port & Special Economic Zone declined by 8.55%.

Global Indices:

The European stock markets extended gains on Wednesday (November 16, 2011), with Italian and Spanish stocks gaining as sovereign bond yields fell back from the alarmingly high levels that sparked a sell-off in equities in the previous two sessions.

The Asian stocks fell on Wednesday but stayed in recent ranges as investors remained on edge about developments in the euro zone debt crisis.

The US stock index pointed to a higher open on the Wall Street on Wednesday.

Market Outlook: Data releases in the US on Wednesday — Consumer Price Index, Industrial Production, EIA Petroleum Status Report, Housing Market Index and Treasury International Capital.