Sensex erases its lows but sheds 96 points at close

Weak global cues and negative breadth in yesterday's trades, led the market open at a lower today. Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was down 83 points at the open and remained subdued as investors booked profits after the recent gains. Realty, capital goods and auto stocks took the major beating, but FMCG stocks bucked the trend on the gains in ITC. The index faltered under selling pressure by afternoon and slipped to the day's low of 15,573. While the market fluctuated sharply thereafter, the firm bullish sentiment and strong buying in heavyweights and FMCG stocks in the late trades helped the Sensex erase most of its losses. The Sensex finally ended the session by shedding 0.61% or 96 points at 15,699. The Nifty slipped by 0.69% or 32 points at 4,589.

The market breadth was negative, with the losers outpacing the gainers in the ratio of 2.01:1. Of the 2,685 stocks that traded on the BSE, 1,753 stocks declined, 862 stocks advanced and 70 stocks ended unchanged. Most of the sectoral indices ended in the red. The BSE Realty index dropped 2.90% at 8,132 followed by the BSE CG index (down 2.46% at 13,429) and the BSE Bankex index (down 2% at 5,023). However, the BSE FMCG index gained 3.91% at 1,951 and the BSE CD index (up 1.08% at 4,264).

Heavyweights led the fall in the Sensex. Satyam Computers slipped by 6.06% at Rs487, Ambuja Cement slumped by 4.50% at Rs128, ACC shed 4.24% at Rs1,071, Bajaj Auto lost 3.83% at Rs2,355, L&T was down 3.54% at Rs2,573 and Tata Motors tumbled by 2.86% at Rs726. Among the gainers ITC jumped 8.93% at Rs166, NTPC slipped 2.51% at Rs168, ONGC shed 2.05% at Rs934, Bharti Airtel fell by 1.57% at Rs947 and HUL was down 1.13% at Rs202, while Infosys and Reliance Energy ended with modest gains.

Over 1.56 crore IFCI shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Bellary Steel (1.44 crore shares), Allied Digital (88.27 lakh shares), Spice Telecommunication (71.15 lakh shares) and Suryachakra Power Corporation (60.90 lakh shares).

Reliance Energy registered a turnover of Rs317 crore on the BSE followed by Allied Digital (Rs300 crore), Housing Development & Infrastructure (Rs231 crore), Indiabulls Real Estate (Rs156 crore) and GMR Infrastructure (Rs147 crore).