Sensex ends 114 pts down in volatile trade

NIFTY 5866.45 -34.20
SENSEX 19724.35 -113.64

Though a few blue chip stocks, ONGC (6.6%), Reliance Petroleum (6.2%), Larsen & Toubro (4.3%), ICICI Bank (3.35%), Reliance Communications (2.45%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (2.1%), BHEL (1.85%) and Infosys Technologies (1.7%) romped home with impressive gains, it turned out to be a highly negative close for the market today.

Notwithstanding a positive start - the US Federal Reserve's decision to cut bank rates by 25 basis points had buoyed up the mood in early trade - the market struggled almost right through the session today as participants appeared somewhat clueless once again about the near term impact of the hike in CRR and restrictions on Participatory Notes on the market.

The Sensex, which hit a high of 20,204.21 after opening with a positive gap of nearly 300 points at 20,130.23, ended the day with a loss of 113.64 points or 0.57% at 19,724.35. In intra-day trades today, the barometer touched a low of 19,634.47.

The Nifty, which moved past the 6000 mark to a new high of 6011.95 in early trade this morning, plunged to a low of 5837.20 before it ended at 5866.45, down 0.58% or 34.20 points from its previous closing mark.

Mahindra & Mahindra (1.4%) and HDFC Bank (1.4%) closed on a firm note. State Bank of India ended with a marginal gain.

Maruti Suzuki (down 6.5%), Hindustan Unilever (6.4%), Bharti Airtel (down 6.3%), Reliance Energy (down 5.3%), Hindalco (4.25%), ITC (4.05%), Reliance Industries (down 3.95%), NTPC (down 3.05%), HDFC (down 2.75%), ACC (down 2.3%), Tata Steel (down 2.2%) and Bajaj Auto (down 2.1%) went down sharply.
Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Cipla, Satyam Computer Services, Wipro and Grasim Industries lost 1% - 2%. Ambuja Cements, which moved in a very narrow range, settled with a loss of 0.55%.
VSNL, MTNL, Siemens, Hero Honda, Zee Entertainment, Nalco, Unitech, HCL Technologies, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, GAIL India and SAIL closed with sharp losses today. Punjab National Bank, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Tata Power and ABB posted smart gains.
Midcap stocks reeled under a severe bout of pressure in afternoon trade and mirroring the sharp fall in values of stocks in that space, the BSE Midcap index tumbled 2.07% today. Reflecting the sell-off in smallcap stocks, the BSE Smallcap index fell 1.53% to 9646.61.
Among the sectoral indices, the FMCG index suffered the most. It lost as much as 4.16% today. The Realty index closed lower by 2.96%. The Auto, CD, Metal, Oil & Gas and Teck indices eased by 1% - 2.25% while the Healthcare index drifted down by 0.46%. BSE IT closed with a minor loss.
With a few frontline stocks from capital goods and banking sectors faring impressively, the BSE CG and Bankex moved up by 1.75% and 1.84% respectively. The PSU index settled with a gain of 0.77%.
The market breadth turned highly negative today. Out of 2815 stocks traded on BSE, as many as 1817 stocks closed in the negative territory. 944 stocks posted gains and 54 stocks ended unchanged from their previous closing levels.

The National Stock Exchange recorded a turnover of Rs 28,476.07 crore, the biggest ever in its history. Reliance Petroleum (Rs 3950 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 2389 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 1645 crore), Reliance Communications (Rs 1441 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs 1028 crore) and Reliance Capital (Rs 777 crore) contributed significantly to the rise.

Larsen & Toubro, Jindal Steel, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel were the other turnover toppers today.


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