All-round selling drifts Sensex 128 pts lower

It was a bad day for the Indian markets with the Sensex losing 128 points while the Nifty falling 48 points owing to global cues and selling pressure across the board. Major Headlines of the Day: Fin Min may raise loan limit on FCNR deposits SBI cuts retail term deposits rates Banking stocks witness pressure on impaired assets concerns Fuel prices to rise after Sept 07: Oil Minster Indian Indices: After yesterday's gaining trend, Indian markets closed today's trading session in the red zone. Profit booking was seen in majority of the sectors except FMCG and Technology, which were the only gaining sectors. Lack of support from global peers led to a lackluster trade. Markets remained under pressure owing to movements in heavyweights like ICICI Bank, L&T, RIL, BHEL, Jindal Steel and Tata Steel. The broader market too ended trade on a negative note. The fall in the market was also in line with Asian peers as investors looked cautious ahead of a European Central Bank ( ECB) meeting tomorrow (September 06, 2012). At the closing bell, the BSE Midcap index declined 0.31%, while the BSE Smallcap index was down by 0.49%. Movement of the Indian indices for the day: After a day’s halt in the downward trend, the key benchmark indices closed today's trading session in the negative terrain. The markets remained under pressure throughout the day as the global peers were unsupportive. The Indian markets started today's trade on a negative note and fell sharply during the afternoon session to hit the intra day lows following losses in the Asian markets and tracking weakness all across the European markets. The BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty dipped nearly 1% each and reached an intra-day low of 17,251 mark and 5,216 levels, respectively. The broader indices were also in red, heading towards a weak market breadth. Profit booking led the markets to close the session lower in trade today. All-round selling across the board also led the equities to trade with heavy losses. Majority of the sectors closed in the red zone today. Investors remained cautious on hopes of new reforms and strategies to limit the rising fiscal deficit and diesel price cut by the government. Both the houses of parliament were adjourned for the 11th day of monsoon session as the Bharatiya Janata Party stuck to its protest over coal allocation scam. The BSE Sensex settled at 17,313.34 down by 127.53 points. The NSE Nifty slipped 48 points to close at 5,225.70. Following are the stocks/ sectors which were in news today: 1. KSK Energy Ventures locked upper circuit of 10% at Rs64.55 on back of heavy volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). 2. Orissa Minerals Development Company (OMDC) locked upper circuit of 5% at Rs53,276 on announcing bonus issue plans. 3. Balalji Telefilms surged on reports that STAR India may sell its 25.99% holding in the company to its promoters. The stock was up by 5.51% in today’s trade. 4. Axis Bank declined after the research firm Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to underweight from equal weight and cut its target price to Rs800 from Rs900. The stock closed 4.90% lower in trade today. 5. BHEL slipped after JP Morgan downgraded Bharat Heavy Electricals to “underweight” from “neutral” and lowered its target price to Rs185 from Rs200, citing prospect of capacity under utilization and pricing pressure on new orders. The stock closed 4.98% lower in trade today. From the home ground, Indian private sector services business expanded at the fastest pace in six months in August, driven by the strongest growth in new business since February and increasing optimism about the future. The HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index for services business, based on a survey of about 400 private-sector companies, rose to 55.0 in August from 54.2 in July, marking nearly a year of uninterrupted monthly growth. From currency point of view, the Indian rupee depreciated by 23 paise to 55.88 against the US dollar. Market sentiment: The market breadth stood in favor of declines. Of the 2935 stocks traded on the BSE, 1235 (42.08%) rose, 1558 (53.08%) fell and 142 (4.84%) stocks remained unchanged. Sectoral & stock screening: Among the 13 sectoral indices, two sectors closed in green zone while remaining eleven sectors closed in red zone. Top Gainers: BSE FMCG rose by 0.72%, BSE TECk surged by 0.35%. Top Losers: BSE Metal down by 2.64%, BSE CG down by 2.54%, BSE Bankex fell by 1.82%. Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were- Torrent Power rose by 4.03%, Strides Arco up by 3.93% and Bharti Airtel surged by 3.28%. Top three losers were- BHEL declined by 4.98%, Axis Bank down by 4.90% and REC fell by 4.81%. Global signals: Asian markets slipped further following losses in Europe and Wall Street after a third straight monthly contraction in US manufacturing activity. The disappointing US data followed poor numbers on factory activity from Asia and Europe, but dealers looked forward to the ECB meeting, hoping there would be new measures to fight the lingering debt crisis. European markets kept fluctuating with the start of the European session on Wednesday. Also the euro dipped against the dollar and European shares fell as investors traded nervously ahead of the ECB rate decision tomorrow and President Draghi`s press conference. US stock index futures pointed towards a lower opening at the Wall Street on Wednesday. Market Outlook: Data to be released in the US on Wednesday is Productivity & Costs.