Sensex ends 209 pts down

Sensex ends 209 pts down
India's Sensex Index Drops 1.1 Percent
Sensex ends down over 200pts, Bajaj


NSE 5274.10 -109.25
BSE 18152.78 -208.88



Weak global markets triggered a massive sell-off on the major Indian bourses this morning and till a little past noon, stocks cutting across sectors struggled for support. Barring a few large cap stocks and some midcap and smallcap stocks, which had moved up on selective buying interest, equities found the going quite tough till that time.

However, as the mood turned slightly positive, a number of stocks rebounded strongly in afternoon trade. And, as recovery gained momentum, the Sensex, which had crashed down by over 900 points to 17,443.29 earlier in the day, rallied to 18,213.21 in late afternoon trade. It finally ended the day at 18,152.78 with a loss of 208.88 points or 1.14%.

The Nifty, which dropped down to a low of 5071 this morning, ended the day at 5274.10, down by a little over 2% or 109.25 points from its previous closing mark.
Auto and bank stocks were among the star performers this afternoon. Expectations of a cut in interest rates buoyed up values of stocks from these two sectors. Reflecting the demand for bank and auto stocks, the Bankex advanced by 1.24% and the Auto index moved up by 1.72%.
A few power stocks, led by Reliance Energy, also staged a smart rally. Even oil, metal and capital goods stocks, which had gone down sharply in morning trade, found buyers at lower levels and regained a significant portion of lost ground this afternoon.

Information technology and realty stocks remained weak due to lack of support. Mirroring their weakness, the BSE IT and Realty indices ended lower by 3.69% and 4.54% respectively. Mid and smallcap stocks cut down their losses significantly. While the Midcap index closed 0.43% down, the Smallcap barometer ended with a loss of 1.13%.

Bajaj Auto, which raced ahead smartly in afternoon trade, gained as much as 8.65% today. Maruti Suzuki notched up a handsome gain of 4.4%. Mahindra & Mahindra gained 1.8% while Tata Motors, which remained relatively subdued, ended with a marginal gain of 0.35%.
Reliance Energy powered its way up sharply and ended with an impressive gain of 3.35%. Housing finance major HDFC, among the first to bounce back, closed with a gain of 2.55%. ACC (1.4%), ICICI Bank (1.15%) and Cipla (0.75%) also ended on a high note. Hindalco moved up by around a quarter per cent and Hindustan Unilever ended with very small gain.

Realty stock DLF closed 5.55% down. Telecom stocks Bharti Airtel (down 4.9%) and Reliance Communications (down 3.3%) and IT majors Wipro (down 5.35%), Infosys Technologies (down 4.9%), Tata Consultancy Services (down 3.1%) and Satyam Computer Services (down 1.9%) ended with sharp losses.

Reliance Industries, which touched a low of Rs 2440 in morning trade, recovered well and cut down its loss to 1.75% as it settled at Rs 2564. Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 4.75%), NTPC (down 4.2%), State Bank of India (down 4.05%), BHEL (down 3.35%), Tata Steel (down 2.2%), Grasim Industries (down 2.05%), Ambuja Cements (down 1.75%) and ONGC (down 1.4%) also ended on a weak note.

Despite a sharp jump in the company's net profit for the quarter ended 31 December 2007, Larsen & Toubro ended in the negative territory, albeit with a less pronounced loss of 1.15%. HDFC Bank lost a little over a per cent while ITC eased by 0.9%.

Suzlon Energy, Unitech, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Nalco, SAIL, VSNL, Cairn India, Idea Cellular, ABB, GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, Zee Entertainment, HCL Technologies and Siemens were among the major losers in the Nifty. GAIL India spurted 4.3%. Punjab National Bank, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Tata Power, Sterlite Industries and Hero Honda also ended on a positive note.
The market breadth remained weak right through the session today. Out of 2747 stocks traded on BSE, 1852 stocks closed with losses. 863 stocks finished with gains and 32 stocks ended at their previous closing levels.


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