The Hindu Business Line : Sensex slides 165 pts; tech stocks worst hit

Technology stocks were the worst affected in Thursday's trading and they led the fall. Good results by Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services failed to enthuse market sentiment.

Dealers said the plunge in today's trading was led by an overnight fall on the tech-dominated Nasdaq and portfolio outflows triggered profit-taking in technology shares and other blue chip companies.

Fall in most of the Asian markets also affected the domestic equity market.

Market players fear that FIIs might pull out more funds in the next few days, as the rupee has already slipped by 1.8 per cent against the US dollar this month. FIIs are net sellers of over Rs 600 crore in equity this month.

At close, BSE Sensex was down 163.66 points (1.9 per cent) to 8,376.90, and NSE's S&P CNX Nifty ended down 52.25 points (two per cent) to 2,537.30.

"The markets have declined along expected lines and are expected to consolidate at current levels. While results will continue to dominate sentiments and lead to short-term volatility, we recommend a selective valuation-based approach and recommend buy at a decline," Motilal Oswal Securities said in a note.

Overall breadth of the market was negative with decline in shares outnumbering the advances. The major loser in today's trading was Ranbaxy Laboratories, down 6.29 per cent, at Rs 458.40, after the company lost a case against pharma major Pfizer in the UK over Lipitor drug. Other stocks to fall include ONGC, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors.

Leading software companies' shares such as Infosys and TCS also fell in the wake of weak Nasdaq.

Brokers said the overall sentiment in the market remains weak and until the results by leading companies are known, it is unlikely to improve.

However, brokers said the fall in the stock prices at these levels is healthy for the market in the long term. "There was sharp rise in the stock prices from 8,000 to 8,800 levels, some fall was needed," said a dealer with a domestic broking firm.

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