The Hindu Business Line : Across-the-board selling drags Sensex

THE euphoria on the bourses received a jolt as markets snapped their five-day winning streak. While the Sensex ended the day at 8931.2, down 63.8 points, the Nifty closed at 2698.3.

Sensex, which breached the 9000-mark on Monday, opened on a positive note. It, however, failed to sustain the momentum as across-the-board selling by investors dragged the benchmark index into negative territory.

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The broader nifty opened in sync with the Sensex but subsequently plunged to an intra-day of low of 2679.9, before closing 13.7 points lower than its previous close.

The reversal in the sentiment was reflected in the market breadth; declining stocks outnumbered the advancing ones by a factor of two.

The bearish sentiment was more pronounced among the frontline stocks as investors booked profits at higher levels.

Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, BANKEX witnessed a sharp decline of over one per cent.

Bearish sentiment was widespread among mid-cap and small-cap stocks, which succumbed to the selling pressure. Prominent losers included the likes of Shopper's Stop, TV Today, India Glycol, Mercator Lines, Hindustan Spinning and Zodiac Clothing among others. Stocks of HEG, Mahindra Gesco, Shree Cement, Godfrey Philips, KPIT Cummins and Bajaj Hindustan, however, flared up on the back of strong buying interest.

A large number of stocks in the IT sector suffered sharp losses. Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Four Soft, Aztec Software and Ramco Systems remained subdued. Few of them that managed to reverse the trend included the likes of Satyam, Polaris, Allsec Technologies, Scandent Solutions and I-Flex.

Stocks in the capital goods and FMCG sectors, that had a fine outing on Monday, lost steam. Prominent losers included HMT, Praj Industries, Esab India, Areva, Astra Microwave, BHEL and Alstom Projects among others.

In the FMCG space, HLL, Dabur India, Colgate, Bata and Mcdowell ended weak. Those that managed to sport a bullish look included the likes of Tata Coffee, Nirma, Tata Tea, Marico and Britannia among others.

There was a selective buying interest in the metals space. Stocks of Sesa Goa, Hindustan Zinc, Vesuvius and Tata Steel climbed up on the back of sustained buying. Jindal Saw, Nalco, Malco and Ispat Industries were prominent losers among others.

Majority of auto and auto-ancillary stocks were characterised by lacklustre trading. Maruti, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Hero Honda, Amtek Auto, Ashok Leyland, CEAT and Asahi India wilted under market pressure. Punjab Tractors, Escorts and Sundaram Fasteners were among the few stocks in this space that ended with respectable gains.

It was a disappointing day for banking sector stocks. Heavy bouts of profit-booking across the counters of Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, SBI, Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank, Oriental Bank, Allahabad Bank, Vijaya Bank and Andhra Bank among others dragged them down.

Stocks in the pharmaceutical sector witnessed a mixed bag of response. Ranbaxy, Sun Pharma, Novartis, Abbott India, Dishman Pharma and Aurobindo Pharma moved up on the back of fresh buying interest. Merck, Dabur Pharma, Dr Reddy's and Nicholas Piramal, however, suffered moderate doses of losses.

Buoyed by the news flow that its second quarter profits rose 25 per cent, Mirc Electronics - the maker of televisions and audio players gained 2 per cent. It closed the day at Rs 23.

Asian Paints climbed Rs 9.75, or 1.9 per cent to Rs 536.05 on news reports that the nation's biggest paintmaker plans to buy companies in the West Asia and South-East Asia.

Other notable losers on the Nifty included the likes of Apollo Tyres, Madhucon Projects, Siemens, Balrampur Chini, Era Constructions and Bombay Dyeing.

Prominent gainers included the likes of GAIL, Container Corp, Aftek Infosys, Visual soft, Mahindra Ugine and Nelco.

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