Markets extend 4-day fall; Nifty ends below 5800

Markets remained under pressure on the settlement day of April series expiry and ended the session on a negative note.

Major headlines

Food inflation at 8.76% versus 8.74%

ICICI Bank Q4 consolidated net profit up 17%

JSW Energy FY11 consolidated net profit up 13%



Indian indices

Markets saw losses on the F&O expiry day amid volatility. Selling pressure intensified in the second half of trade, with all the sectors closing lower. Realty, technology, capital goods, shares took heavy beating, coupled with weakness in index heavyweights like RIL, L&T, SBI, DLF, Hero Honda. Gains were only seen in the initial trade and then immediately the markets turned red shrugging off positive global cues. Rollover pressures on April derivatives expiry dragged the Nifty below the 5800 mark. Food inflation accelerated to a three-week high, adding pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates.

The Sensex started the trade higher by 84 points at 19533 tracking positive global cues and in no time touched the day’s high of 19542. The index witnessed volatility and turned negative. The Sensex registered losses and remained in the red throughout the session to hit the day’s low of 19266 in the late trade. The Sensex shut shop at 19292, lower by 157 points and the Nifty fell 48 points to close at 5785.

Bond and Rupee update: Spending by local governments before elections is stoking India’s inflation, which has driven yields on the nation’s benchmark bonds to their biggest monthly surge in more than a year. The cost to borrow for Indian companies is approaching the highest level since 2008 after firms led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani said that profit growth slowed and economists boosted their interest-rate forecasts.

Market sentiment

The market breadth stood weak as 1,793 shares fell and 1,097 rose. However, 101 stocks remained unchanged.

Viewing volumes

India's second largest real estate developer - Unitech was the most traded share, with over 0.89 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. It was followed by the biggest storage battery producing company in India - Exide Industries (0.49 crore shares), wind turbine major - Suzlon Energy (0.44 crore shares), industrial finance company - IFCI (0.35 crore shares) and a leading housing finance company - LIC Housing Finance (0.33 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening

All the 13 sectors ended on a negative note. BSE Realty was the biggest culprit in trade today, down by 3.03%, BSE Metal fell by 1.20% and BSE IT dipped by 1.12%. Rest of the sectors lost in the range of 0.08-1.06%.

Looking into 'A' group shares, top three gainers were - Exide Industries rose by 7.06%, Cadila Healthcare shot up by 2.74% and ABB went up by 2.69%. Top three losers were - Unitech dropped by 7.54%, Patni Computer Systems declined by 6.32% and IRB Infrastructure Developers slipped by 5.85%.

Global signals

The European shares edged up on Thursday, after the US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signalled that he was in no rush to scale back support for the economy, although strategists said gains might soon reverse.

The Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei rose 1.63% at the close.

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

Market Outlook: Weekly jobless claims data and Q1 GDP numbers will be out in the US on Thursday.