The Hindu Business Line : Inflation, selling pressure pull down Sensex

Meek Asian markets, concern over inflation and selling pressure dominated market sentiments on Friday. The BSE Sensex witnessed a fall of 2.25 per cent and ended the day at 13,908 points. The Nifty too, pulled down the shutters at 4,083, lower than its previous close by about 100 points. While the weakness was across the board, mid-cap and small-cap stocks fared better; the BSE Midcap and BSE Small Cap indices closed with a loss of one per cent each. Only a third of the stocks traded on the BSE advanced on Friday.

All sectoral indices closed in the red. The worst affected were the healthcare and oil and gas indices.

Index losers

Cipla was the biggest loser amongst the index stocks. A fall in Q4 profits by 34 per cent and a subsequent lowering of analyst ratings contributed to the loss. The shares closed at Rs 217, 14 per cent lower than its previous close of Rs 253. Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Reliance, Grasim, ONGC, Suzlon were the other heavy-weight stocks that closed in the red.

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Outside of the indices, however, stocks such as MICO, Blue Dart Express, Cyber Media, Patni Computers and Wire & Wireless witnessed a spurt in prices. The stocks of REI Agro, Ballarpur Industries, Deccan Chronicle Holdings and Nagarjuna Fertilizers also jumped on the back of huge volumes.

Sector-specific Moves

The banking sector, which witnessed a brief rally following the RBI's decision to leave the interest rates unchanged, was out of favour on Friday. With the inflation rate for the week ended April 14 remaining high at 6.09 per cent and concerns voiced over the excessive ECB inflows, stocks such as SBI, ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, UTI and HDFC Bank lost heavily.

Real estate and construction stocks such as Orbit Corporation, Hindustan Corporation, Mahindra Gesco and Indiabulls Real Estate also took a beating.

Among the technology stocks, Wipro and Satyam Computers witnessed fresh buying.While Satyam was up 1.5 per cent, Wipro gained 0.5 per cent.

Stock Specific Action

Reports relating to SEBI's crackdown on price manipulation in recent listings led to selling of shares of Mind Tree Consulting, Pyramid Saimira, Pochiraju Industries and Cambridge Technologies.

The stock of MICO shot up more than 10 per cent. Robert Bosch, the world's biggest auto-parts maker is to make an open offer for an additional 20 per cent of the company's stake at Rs 4,000 a share. The shares rose by 15 per cent to Rs 3,935 before settling at Rs 3,823.65.

Results announcements

Bharti Airtel declared another quarter of strong results. But the stock succumbed to selling pressure. After moving to a high of Rs 869.80, the stock shed gains to close lower at Rs 826.

The country's biggest drugmaker Ranbaxy Labs saw Q1 profits rise 79 per cent on higher sales of generic medicines in the European markets. The strong showing helped the stock pare the losses recorded in the earlier part of the trading session. The stock ended the day flat at Rs 370.70.

Deccan Aviation, posted a loss in its third quarter. The stock lost 5 per cent during the trading session and is down 20 per cent since January this year.

Third quarter profits of HCL Infosystems rose 4.2 per cent. The stock closed at Rs 145 , higher by 7.68 per cent.