D-Street on a downhill; Sensex down 183 points

Huge decline in ADAG stocks and tremendous selling pressure led the markets to fall drastically, with the Sensex closing 183 points down

Major headlines

M&M surges on robust Q3 results

BPCL Q3 net profit slips 50% yoy

REC Q3 net profit jumps 40% yoy



Indian indices

Free-fall continues on Dalal Street owing to lot of scams and other issues that have been coming forth. The Nifty broke the 5300 mark, which it managed to hold in yesterday’s trade. Markets saw heavy fall in the last one hour of trade as selling pressure intensified coupled with massive fall in ADAG stocks. The key benchmark indices hit fresh seven-month lows amid volatility.

ADAG Group companies’ shares took a heavy beating today after ICAI sent a letter asking for audited accounts of Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power. Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Capital, Reliance Mediaworks, Reliance Power and Reliance Communications were down in the range of 12-18%. Infrastructure companies' shares too were under pressure. BHEL plunged over 4% and Jaiprakash Associates tumbled 11%. L&T was down 1.25% and NTPC fell nearly 2%. Suzlon Energy plummeted 6%.

ONGC, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel and ITC were down 1-3%. Hindalco and Sesa Goa from metal space cracked around 6%. Tata Steel, Sterlite Industries, Jindal Steel and SAIL were down 1.5-3%. Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda and Tata Motors from auto pack plunged 3-4% followed by Maruti with 1.5% fall while M&M rallied 5% post strong set of Q3 numbers.

The broader indices cracked the most as compared to benchmarks - the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices crashed 3-4%.

The Sensex began the session lower by 52 points at 17724 and traded in red. However in the mid-morning session, the index turned positive for brief period to hit the day’s high of 17864. The Sensex fluctuated between gains and losses as the session progressed. Heavy fall in ADAG stocks and sell-off across the sectors led the Sensex to hit the day’s low of 17508.

The Sensex closed at 17593, down by 183 points and the Nifty fell 59 points to shut at 5254.

Market sentiment

The market breadth was very weak as declining stocks outnumbered the gaining ones over four times. Out of the 2,979 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,365 declined while 516 advanced. Whereas, 98 stocks remained unchanged.

Sectoral & stock screening

All the 13 sectoral indices closed the session in negative territory. BSE Power dropped the most by 4.23%, followed by BSE Metal down by 3.87%, BSE Realty slid by 3.81% and BSE CD declined by 3.57%. Rest of the indices ended the session lower in the range of 0.33-2.58%.

Among 'A' group stocks, the top gainers were - Kotak Mahindra Bank surged by 5.16%, followed by Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.06% and Housing Development Finance Corporation up by 3.16%. The top losers were - Reliance Infrastructure slid the most by 18.79%, followed by Jai Corp down by 14.42% and Lanco Infratech dipped by 14.42%.

Viewing volumes

Leading infrastructure firm - Lanco Infratech was traded the most with over 1.72 crore shares changing hands on the BSE, leading FMCG firm - Marico (1.12 crore shares), India’s second largest developer - Unitech (0.97 crore shares), ADAG group telecom firm - Reliance Communications (0.60 crore shares) and wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.56 crore shares).

Global signals

European shares edged slightly lower on Wednesday from their 29-month high, as technical indicators signalled that the market looked overbought.

All the major Asian indices ended the session lower.

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

Market outlook: In the US, ABC Consumer Confidence Index data will be announced.