The Hindu Business Line : Markets take a break on weak global cues

After a rallyin the past three consecutive sessions, the markets on Tuesday took a breather. The bears were back in action and sent the markets into the negative territory.

The bellwether Sensex failed to hold the momentum as it closed 44.3 points lower at 12,888.3, while the broader Nifty closed about nine points lower than its previous close.

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Markets opened on a weak note taking cues from Asian counterparts following reports that North Korea may be preparing to conduct a second nuclear explosion.

The Sensex saw intra-day swing of over 100 points as it touched an high of 12,994.4, but failed to kiss the 13,000-mark. The markets, however, recouped a large part of their early losses, thanks to the value buying towards the end of the day's trading.

Despite expectations of strong corporate results and a stable monetary policy, market sentiment remained weak.

The breadth of the market was negative, as declining stocks outnumbered those that advanced by almost a factor of two.

Large-cap stocks, which have been the front-runners in the recent recovery phase, largely remained out of favour in Tuesday's trading. Barring a few stocks such as Satyam, BHEL, Hero Honda and Wipro, most of them ended in the red.

In the mid-cap space, NDTV, Indo Rama Synthetics, ING Vysya Bank, Praj Industries, Alfa Laval, ABG Shipyard, Sterling Biotec and Crisil succumbed to selling pressure.

Metals shine

Firm pricing appears to have kept the sheen on metals stocks. The Tata Steel counter was buzzing with activity on the back of speculative signals pointing to the steel major nearing a takeover of Corus of the UK.

The stock was up by about a per cent on the back of volumes of over 11 lakh shares.

SAIL also attracted widespread buying interest. The stock added over four per cent to its price on the back of volumes of close to 35 lakh shares.

Hindustan Zinc and Ispat Industries also closed on a firm note.

Select stocks from media and retail also spurted on the back of strong buying support. Jagran Prakashan, HT Media, Television Eighteen and Provogue were among the few that caught investors' fancy.

Information technology stocks, which have recorded steep gains over the past few sessions, saw a mixed response.

Infosys that has added about 16 per cent over the last two weeks, ended 1.1 per cent lower.

Aptech, iGate Global and TCS also failed to put up a smart show.

Polaris Software also ended on a negative note, despite the company coming out with a strong quarter.

HCL Technologies, Satyam, i-flex Solutions and Rolta India managed to end with respectable gains.

Sizzling stocks

On an otherwise bearish market, Deccan Aviation stood out recording significant gains. The stock shot up by 11.1 per cent to close at Rs 108.9.

Subex Azure, CMC, Yes Bank and Titan were among the other stocks that put up a stiff resistance.

Losing steam

Banking stocks, which have had a dream run over the last one month, failed to put up a creditable performance.

UTI Bank, which has witnessed a significant rise over the last week, was one of the prominent losers.

Others that closely followed included the likes of HDFC Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Canara Bank, Karnataka Bank and Bank of Baroda.