The Hindu Business Line : Sensex down, Nifty up in wishy-washy market

AFTER the powerful rally that led to an upward surge in the major stock market indices during the last few trading sessions, the markets seemed to have got into a mild correction mode on Tuesday.

The raging rally in the markets had taken investors by surprise last week, after strong inflows and buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) had pushed the indices upward.

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Despite the small fall in the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) on Tuesday, the index had still closed about 5.5 per cent higher than its corresponding week-ago levels.

The market's performance on Tuesday was also a bit wishy-washy, with no particular trend coming through. Further, while the Sensex was marginally down, the National Stock Exchange's (NSE) 50-share Nifty Index actually closed the day marginally higher, probably after the strong show put up by Wipro, SCI and a few other stocks.

On Tuesday, while the Sensex was down 7.6 points or 0.13 per cent at 5,758 points, the NSE Nifty index was up about 0.4 per cent at 1,812.5 points. A large part of the change in both the indices came towards the end of the session.

At the BSE, the Sensex witnessed strong fluctuations through the session on Tuesday. The Sensex opened lower and after crossing into positive territory and sliding back into the red, many times during the day. It finally closed below its previous close after a bout of selling, during the last trading hour, pushed down the prices of a number of pivotals.

Most of the positive sentiments in the markets, during the last few trading sessions, came from the expectations of robust corporate earnings numbers for the just ended quarter. But, while corporate announcements are just a few days away, investors also seemed to have taken on a more cautious stance after the rally of last week heated up the system.

Tuesday's session was also a bit lacklustre in terms of trading volumes. The volumes were relatively low and with buying interest tending to gravitate towards mid-cap stocks, the traded value of all Sensex stocks slipped below the Rs 1,000-crore mark. Also, of the 30 Sensex stocks, 11 closed higher, 18 closed lower and one stock was stagnant as compared to previous close levels.

Of the Sensex stocks, the ones that declined were Hero Honda Motors (down 2.12 per cent), Cipla (down 1.89 per cent), L&T (down 1.68 per cent), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 1.06 per cent), Hindustan Lever (down 1.57 per cent), Reliance Industries (down 1.2 per cent), Hindalco (down 1.26 per cent), Ranbaxy Laboratories and Tata Power (both down 1.1 per cent) and Satyam Computer (down 0.88 per cent). The other losers among the Sensex stocks were Infosys Technologies, Tata Steel, ITC, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Grasim Industries, ACC and Bajaj Auto.

Among the Sensex stocks that gained were Bharti TeleVentures, BHEL, HPCL, ICICI Bank, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Maruti Udyog, Reliance Energy, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, Wipro and Zee Telefilms.

On the BSE, the other important sector indices were seen bucking the trend of the Sensex. The BSE Bankex, the BSE TECk and the BSE PSU indices had all posted gains after the close of session on Tuesday.

Among the other big gainers from these indices were NDTV, Patni Computers, Andhra Bank, UTI Bank, Balmer and Lawrie, Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Chennai Petroleum, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, GAIL India, Indian Overseas Bank, Kochi Refinery, Shipping Corporation, Syndicate Bank, UCO Bank, Union Bank and Vijaya Bank.

Of the stocks in the auto industry, the top three two-wheeler manufacturers were all in the red on Tuesday, while stocks of the three listed passenger car manufacturers, M&M, Maruti and Tata Motors, closed with gains.