Nifty hammered on expiry day, ends below 200 DMA

The Nifty closed below the 200 daily moving average (DMA) and touch the four and half months low owing to rollover pressures and the continuing concerns over inflation

Major headlines

Food inflation inches up to 15.57%

HDFC Bank Q3 net profit up 33% yoy

Tata Chemicals Q3 consolidated net profit down 22% yoy



Indian indices

The Indian markets witnessed a sharp cut on the settlement day of January F&O series. Heavy selling was seen across the board, which led the Nifty to close below the 200 daily moving average (DMA) and touch the four and half months low. Rollover pressures and the continuing concerns over inflation also spooked sentiments.

Food inflation rose to 15.57% for the week ended January 15, 2011 as compared to 15.52% seen in the previous week.

Among frontliners, DLF, Sterlite Industries, M&M, HUL, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications tanked 3.5-6%. However, Tata Motors, ACC and Ambuja Cements went up 2.5-2.7%. TCS and Sesa Goa gained 1.3-1.7%.

In Midcap space, Atlas Copco rallied 13.61%. IBN18 Broadcast, eClerx Services, Sterling International and Money Matters jumped 5-8.5%. However, Jyothy Labs, Sanwaria Agro, Blue Star, Core Projects and Deccan Chronicle fell 7-11.6%. In Smallcap space, PI Industries, Timex Group, Ratnamani Metal, KPR Mill and Tata Coffee were up 6-11%.

The Sensex began the session up by 117 points at 19087 and also its day’s high. However, the index erased all its gains in initial trade and turned negative. The Sensex traded lower for the rest of the day, extending losses owing to selling pressure across the board. In late trade, the Sensex nosedived and hit the day’s low of 18656.

The Sensex closed at 18684, down by 285 points and the Nifty shut lower by 83 points, at 5604.
Market sentiment

The market breadth was extremely weak as the losing shares outnumbered the advancing ones over two times. Out of the 2,975 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,883 plunged while 940 gained. Hundred and fifty-two stocks traded unchanged.

Viewing volumes

Public sector bank - IDBI Bank was traded the most, with over 0.32 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, followed by infrastructure firm - Lanco Infratech (0.29 crore shares), India's second largest developer - Unitech (0.27 crore shares), home finance company - LIC Housing Finance (0.26 crore shares) and the country's largest hydro power generator - NHPC (0.21 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

All the sectors ended in the red zone. BSE Realty tumbled the most by 3.57%, followed by BSE Healthcare (HC), BSE Metal and BSE Bankex fell by 2.61%, 1.98% and 1.85%, respectively. Rest of the sectors ended lower in the range of 1.14-1.81%.

In 'A' group stocks, top three gainers - Religare Enterprises rose by 3.78%, GTL Infrastructure surged by 3.17% and Motherson Sumi Systems gained by 2.74%. Top three losers - Lanco Infratech slid by 8.34%, Tata Chemicals dropped by 6.13%, and IDBI Bank dipped by 6.09%.

Global signals

The European markets rose as sharp rise in mining sector shares helped after a softer start, although a downgrade of Japan's credit rating by Standard & Poor's limited gains.

The Asian markets ended the session on a mixed note. Shanghai was the major gainer, up by 1.49%, while Hang Seng declined by 0.27%.

The US stock index futures pointed to a flat to lower opening on the Wall Street.

Market outlook: In the US, weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and pending home sales will be out.