The Hindu Business Line : Markets disregard earnings, slip sharply

Completely ignoring a good set of results turned in by corporate India and oblivious to global cues that were positive, the markets registered their fifth straight day of losses. The Sensex shed close to 220 points to end at 10007 points, perilously close to the psychological 10000-point mark. That was not before the 10,000 mark was breached during intra-day trade. The Nifty shed 61 points taking out the important 3000 mark to end well lower at 2932 points. Stocks belonging to the technology sector led the decline.

Clearly, the sentiment was distinctly negative and the weak close could be attributable to institutional selling. The market opened about 100 points higher than its close on Tuesday, and gained further strength in early morning trades. Alas, it turned out to be a case of flattering to deceive. It was a southward journey thereafter with the market slipping below the five-figure mark in the last half-hour of trade, before recovering marginally.

Indicative of the bearish sentiment, declines outpaced advances by a ratio of almost 4:1. Likewise, every index on the BSE — various sectoral and market cap-related ones — ended in the red.

Index stocks

Red was splashed all across the Sensex, save for two stocks (ONGC and Ranbaxy). Stocks belonging to the tech pack took a knock on the back of the perception that their earnings card did not quite match up to that of Infosys. TCS, which declared its numbers after close of market hours on Tuesday, saw its stock slump by Rs 84 to Rs 1,758. Satyam and Wipro, too, met with similar treatment. Incidentally, Wipro turned out a good set of numbers but the street appeared to be none too impressed with it.

Sectors in focus

The metals and the auto indices registered the steepest losses. Key stocks that shed value within the metals pack included Hindustan Zinc, Jindal Steel, Sesa Goa and Sterlite.

Among auto sector stocks, prominent losers included Bajaj Auto, MICO, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti and Tata Motors.

Buzzing stocks

The stock that sizzled during Wednesday's trade was undoubtedly that of newspaper publisher Jagran Prakashan that gained a whopping 16 per cent to close at Rs 236.5. The stock, however, quotes at a good 30 per cent discount to its offer price when it came out with its public issue earlier this year.

Kotak Mahindra Bank was another stock that registered smart gains, on the back of two block deals on the counter. Even as 22 lakh shares were purchased in two deals at an average price of Rs 245, the stock ended the day at almost the same level, with gains of Rs 6.

Other gainers and losers

A few other stocks sporting decent gains included Elforge, Vardhman Holdings (although on extremely thin volumes), Mahavir Spinning and Celebrity Fashions.

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Prominent losers included LMW, Munjal Auto, ABB, i-flex Solutions, Madras Cements and Simplex Infrastructure.