The Hindu Business Line : Metals, IT, healthcare stocks in red

The BSE Sensex, which dabbled with the 10,200-mark on Monday, failed to make any significant upward movement. A strong negative sentiment that swept the markets in the last couple of hours caused a significant drop on the broad market indices. Sharp declines in frontline metals, IT and healthcare stocks led the markets into the red. The Sensex and S&P Nifty closed with a decline of 0.8 per cent.

Click here for table

Bears were in control of the metals sector as reflected by a sharp decline in the BSE Metal index. The sector-oriented index on the BSE registered a decline of about 2 per cent as leading steel, aluminium, zinc and copper manufacturers took a beating. However, quite a few stocks such as Jindal Saw, Mukand and Monnet Ispat bucked the trend. Prominent losers included Hindustan Zinc, National Aluminium, Jindal Steel, Sterlite, Madras Aluminium, Jindal Stainless and Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys.

Bears staged control of the IT sector with blue chip stocks registering declines of more than one per cent. Silverline, Hexaware, Satyam, Wipro, iGATE Global, NIIT and Patni Computers. Lower rung stocks such as Aptech, Financial Technologies, i-flex, MphasiS BFL and 3i Infotech were among the few that bucked the trend.

Sharp declines in frontline stocks in the healthcare sector pushed the BSE Health Care index lower by 1.8 per cent. Leading the losers list were Dishman Pharmaceuticals, Zandu Pharmaceutical, Morepen, Anuh Pharma, Cipla, Alembic and Solvay Pharma.

Despite the strong negative sentiment, tea garden stocks, which hogged the limelight, continued to march their way northwards. Apeejay Tea, Assam Company, Dhunseri, Parry Agro and Warren Tea have extended their gains. In the BM Khaitan group, while McLeod Russel advanced by 3.9 per cent, Williamson Tea Assam declined by 6 per cent. While Harrisons Malayalam closed flat, Bombay Burmah Trading declined sharply on profit booking. Renewed buying interest helped Goodricke ramp up pace as the stock posted a stupendous gain of 10 per cent. The stock has gained about 45 per cent since the beginning of February.

Bullish sentiment was kept at bay in the coffee sector despite heightened activity. A drop in global coffee prices appears to have pushed Tata Coffee lower by about 1.2 per cent. CCL Products appears to have gone into a sharp correction on the back of a 6-per cent gain on Monday, the stock closed lower by 3 per cent.

Sentiment was weak on the counters of cigarettes stocks with VST Industries and GTC Industries registering declines of 1.8 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively. Though activity on the ITC counter was weak, the stock managed to post a gain of 0.7 per cent.

The chlor alkali industry presented a mixed bag with prominent caustic soda manufacturers registering declines while Siel registered a 5 per cent gain. The losers in the industry included Gujarat Alkalies, Kanoria Chemicals and Punjab Alkalies.

South-based companies Andhra Sugars and Chemfab Alkalis managed to close flat. Soda ash manufacturers GHCL and Tata Chemicals declined by 1.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.

A predominantly bearish sentiment prevailed in the specialty chemicals sector. In the Clariant group while the larger players - Colour Chem and Clariant shed 0.6 per cent; Vanavil Dyes gained 0.7 per cent. Ondeo Nalco and Lanxess ABS were among the other prominent losers.

Prominent gainers among the Nifty constituents were Bajaj Auto, M&M, Bharti Tele, GAIL, Tata Tea, HDFC, MTNL and HDFC Bank. Those that featured in the losers list were L&T, Tata Power, Tata Motors, Dr.Reddy's and Tata Steel.