Sensex dips below 8k in Intraday; Short covering helps cut losses from nearly 1000 to 200 pts

ALErt:SEBI allows creeping acquisition beyond 55 per cent
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Short covering helps cut losses; Sensex regains 8K

In a relief to investors amid the ongoing festival of lights, Indian stock market benchmarks staged a strong come-back Monday to end off lows . Auto and FMCG stocks ended with major losses while realty closed higher.

Market began the week on a lower note in line with other global markets. Sustained selling from foreign funds and panicky retail investors saw indices breaching important support levels. But short covering by bears ahead of October F&O expiry Wednesday saw a V-shaped recovery in indices to such an extent that indices jumped over 80 per cent from day’s lows.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 8,509.56, down 191.51 points or 2.20 per cent. The index bounced back around 80 per cent from its intra-day low of 7,697.39. Earlier in the day, the benchmark breached another psychological support of 8,000. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty bounced back 271.45 points from the day’s low of 2252.75 to close at 2,524.20. The broader index touched ended 59.80 points or 2.31 per cent lower from its previous close.

There was no respite for tier II and III stocks as sustained selling saw them underpeform benchmarks. BSE Midcap Index closed 4.18 per cent lower and BSE Smallcap Index fell 5 per cent. “After Friday’s fall, market was in oversold territory and traders were loaded with short positions. They didn’t want to rollover positions in such a volatile market and hence covered shorts mainly in index pivotals ahead of F&O expiry,” said a technical analyst with a local brokerage firm.

Tata Motors (-13.95%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-13.71%), Jaiprakash Associates (-10.33%), Grasim Industries (-9.57%), Tata Power (-8.75%), State Bank of India (-8.63%) and Larsen & Toubro (-7.13%) were the major Sensex losers. Bharti Airtel (5.99%), Reliance (5.83%), Reliance Infrastructure (3.97%), Reliance Communications (3.62%) and Sterlite Industries (3.40%) were the top gainers. After being beaten down black and blue, shares of Unitech surged to settle 37.58 per cent higher. There are reports that the company has sold stake in its subsidiaries to raise capital. Suzlon Energy too opened higher but soon gave up gains to end flat at Rs 46.95. The global outlook is still bearish as recessionary fears weigh on sentiments.

US stock futures were indicating another day of correction Monday. Dow Jones futures were down 2.17 per cent, Nasdaq Stock futures were 2.12 per cent lower and S&P 500 stocks futures declined 2.66 per cent. Indian markets will remain shut Tuesday on account of Diwali, but the exchanges will conduct “Muhurat” trading between 6:15 pm and 7:15 pm. Results Announced Today Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals' net profit fell 92.49 per cent to Rs 24.92 crore for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2008 compared with Rs 331.74 crore for the quarter ended Sep 2007. Total income increased 43.15 per cent to Rs 13,464.88 crore in Jul-Sep quarter of 2008 against Rs 765.52 crore in the same quarter of the earlier year. The company shares ended down 7.23 per cent to Rs 33.35 on BSE.

State Bank
of India, on standalone basis, posted a net profit of Rs 2259.72 crore for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2008 against Rs 1611.42 crore in the same quarter of 2007. Interest earned stood at Rs 15566.50 crore against Rs 11616.28 crore previous year. Interest expended was Rs 10111.15 crore against Rs 7853.36 crore same quarter last year. The company shares ended down 8.63 per cent to Rs 1,056.60 on BSE.
ICICI Bank posted a net profit of Rs 1,014.21 crore for the quarter ended on Sep 30, 2008 against Rs 1,002.60 crore for the quarter ended on Sep 2007. Interest earned increased to Rs 7,834.98 crore in Jul-Sep quarter of 2008 compared with Rs 7,516.47 crore in the same quarter of previous year. Interest expended stood at Rs 5,687.36 crore in the September quarter of 2008 from Rs 5730.47 crore in the earlier year. The company shares ended up 2.03 per cent to Rs 316.30 on BSE. Areva T&D India has posted a net profit after tax of Rs 52.31 crore for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2008, up by 8.89 per cent against Rs 48.05 crore for the quarter ended Sept 2007. Total income increased 34.15 per cent to Rs 586.62 crore in Jul-Sep quarter of 2008 compared with Rs 437.30 crore in the same quarter of previous year. On Monday, the company shares ended up 2.76 per cent to Rs 160.15 on BSE. Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Company posted net loss to Rs 103.97 crore for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2008 against the net profit of Rs 18.77 crore for the quarter ended Sep 2007. Total income increased to Rs 255.52 crore in the Jul-Sep quarter of 2008 against Rs 173.75 crore in the same quarter of previous year. On Monday, the company shares ended down 8.94 per cent to Rs 149.20 on BSE.

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Samvat 2064 ends on a volatile note
Sensex recovers after testing 8K

Source:ET,BS,BL,Sify