The Hindu Business Line : Tech stocks worst hit

THE markets witnessed a downward journey for the third consecutive day as bears continued their onslaught. While the Sensex closed the day at 7187.70 with a loss of over 60 points, the Nifty was down by about 19 points.

The markets opened on a weak note and witnessed volatile trade throughout the day. There was across the board selling which kept the indices in the negative territory. The tech stocks were the worst hit after Infosys' poor results and Hexaware's lowering of its annual profits and sales forecast. While Hexaware was down by 13.2 per cent, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and TCS also declined significantly.

Click here for table

Most of the index heavyweights felt the brunt of the bear attack. Hero Honda, ICICI Bank, SBI, Gujarat Ambuja, Dr Reddy's, ONGC, HLL, Tata Steel, Tata Power and Tata Motors shed value. There was no escape for mid-cap and small-cap stocks either. Those that led the losers' pack were Gateway Distriparks, TV Today and Madras Cement.

It was a volatile day for the capital goods sector. Stocks of Thermax, L&T, Gammon India, Siemens and Dredging Corporation suffered moderate to sharp losses as investors booked profits. However, BHEL managed to record a modest gain of 2.3 per cent.

Banking stocks also stayed out of favour. Oriental Bank, UTI Bank and Punjab National Bank ended weak. However, HDFC Bank was marginally up after the bank announced that its first quarter profits rose by 31 per cent.

There was selective buying interest among the FMCG stocks amid expectations of a good monsoon. Britannia, ITC, Nestle, McDowell and Ruchi Soya posted respectable gains. However, Dabur India, Marico, and Tata Tea came in for selling pressure.

Weakness prevailed among the metals space. Uttam Galva, Bhushan Steel, Sesa Goa, Madras Aluminium and Essar Steel registered a decline. However, SAIL, Hindalco and NALCO managed to buck the negative trend.

Oil and gas stocks continued to be dampeners on the market sentiment. GAIL, BPCL, IBP, HPCL, Hindustan Oil Exploration and ONGC came in for sharp losses.

Auto stocks also saw a mixed bag of response. While Hero Honda, LML, Maruti and Amtek Auto suffered losses, TVS Motors, Swaraj Mazda and M&M put up smart gains.

Stocks of shipping companies had a field day in a weak market. Most of them jumped on expectation of an increase in freight rates. Bharti Shipyard, GE Shipping, SCI and Varun Shipping ended with handsome gains.

Other prominent gainers were Asahi India, Bharat Forge, Elder Pharma and Nagarjuna Constructions. Those that lost notably included Titan, ABB and Berger Paints.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Bear domination

`Buy' mode sweetens Bajaj Hindusthan

Flextronics top brass sell shares since delisting announcement

Alstom Projects shines on strong order book

Outlook may turn positive for Reliance Energy

Now, it's the turn of Korea, Taiwan investors to knock at Indian doors

Tech stocks worst hit