Mkt down 151 pts; Inflation cools further to 12.34 per cent

Sensex sheds 151 pts as nuclear deal
Global jitters weigh on sentiment; Sensex ends 150 points lower
Sensex ends 151 pts down in volatile trade

Index Value: 14,899.10
Trade Time: 3:58PM IST
Change: - 150.76 (1.00%)
Prev Close: 15,049.86
Open: 14,895.85
Day's Range: 14,766.01 - 14,994.15
52wk Range: 12,515.00 - 21,206.80


Tracking weak Asian markets, equities opened on a negative note on the major Indian bourses this morning. A few front line stocks managed to buck the trend but the premier indices Sensex and Nifty traded in the red right through the session as every small rally was followed by a strong round of selling.
Stockometer Top gainers Worst losers
Market participants appeared wary of building up positions ahead of release of inflation data and the outcome of the crucial Nuclear Suppliers Group meet today.

Realty and bank stocks bore the brunt of the onslaught this morning. Though bank stocks bounced back well and ended well off their morning lows, realty stocks found the going pretty tough today. Metal, FMCG, capital goods and power stocks also had a weak outing.

Select IT, pharma and oil stocks edged higher on stock specific support. As the mood remained quite lacklustre, there was not much action in midcap and smallcap segments today.

The Sensex, which opened with a negative gap of over 150 points at 14,895.85 and slipped to a low of 14,766.01, ended the day at 14,899.10 with a loss of 150.76 points or 1%. The barometer hit a high of 14,994.15 in early afternoon trade. The Nifty settled at 4447.75 with a loss of 56.25 points or 1.25%. In intra-day trades, the Nifty touched a high of 4514.60 and a low of 4419.45.

Maruti Suzuki (2.95%) topped the list of gainers from the Sensex. Hindalco moved up by 2.4%. Jaiprakash Associates and Tata Power advanced by around 1.75%. Grasim Industries, State Bank of India, Infosys Technologies, ICICI Bank and Ranbaxy Laboratories ended with modest gains.

BPCL, GAIL India, Cairn India, Tata Communications, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Hero Honda, Ambuja Cements, HCL Technologies and Punjab National Bank closed with notable gains. Nalco, ABB, Unitech, SAIL, Siemens, Power Grid Corporation, Idea Cellular, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Suzlon Energy ended with sharp losses.

KSK Energy, Akruti City, Aban Offshore, UCO Bank, Piramal Healthcare, Essar Shipping, Bank of India, Petronet LNG, Federal Bank, Century Textiles, Bombay Dyeing, Yes Bank, India Cements, EIH, Biocon, Financial Technologies and Oriental Bank of Commerce were among the prominent gainers from BSE 'A' Group.

Midcap stock Moser Baer shot up by nearly 9.5% to Rs 116.20 following global investors injecting Rs 411 crore in the company's solar photovoltaic business. Himadri Chemicals, Zee News, Mercator Lines, JM Financial Services, Dish TV, Karnataka Bank, MIC Electronics, Ballarpur Industries, Sun Pharma Advanced Research, Wockhardt, KEC International, Jagran Prakashan and Jindal Drilling were among the other major gainers in the midcap index.

The market breadth was marginally positive when traded ended today. Out of 2685 stocks traded on BSE, 1332 stocks closed with gains. 1259 stocks declined and 94 stocks ended flat.
-----------------------------------------------
Inflation cools further to 12.34 per cent

Continuing its southward journey, inflation further slipped to 12.34 per cent for the week ended August 23 from 12.4 per cent recorded a week earlier. The nation’s annual inflation rate, however, was expected to have inched up in the third week of August to 12.44 per cent, driven by higher prices of some commodities and demand pressures in economy, a Reuters poll showed earlier. The decline in inflation last week was largely on account of the drop in the global crude prices and marginal easing of prices of essentials such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat and fish. Economists, however, cautioned that it may be too early to assume that the declining trend had set in. “While there has been some stability in the index since June, it may be too early to say that inflation has started declining,” said leading economist Saumitra Chaudhury.

DK Joshi, principal economist, Crisil, said, “It is essentially the impact of the global oil prices.” Lehman Brothers has already said in a report that they expect the final WPI inflation to peak in Oct/Nov at around 13.5-14.0 per cent, “but to stay in double-digit territory until February 2009. Based on our forecast of slower GDP growth of 7.3 per cent in FY09, our energy team’s forecast of the price of oil falling sharply to $90/bbl in Q1 2009, plus favorable base effects, our forecast is that WPI inflation will start turning down decisively in January 2009.”

Source: ET, SIfy