Sensex ends 415 pts down as bank, IT stocks decline

Sensex ends 415 pts down as bank, IT stocks decline

Weak global markets and uncertainties on the Indo - US nuclear deal front prompted a negative start on the major Indian bourses this morning. And equities, especially stocks from bank, realty, information technology and metal sectors remained in the red right through the session as the bears remained relentless till the very end.

Stockometer Top gainers Worst losers

Thanks to the fall in crude oil prices, PSU oil stocks had a good run in the positive territory today. Aviation stocks Jet Airways and Deccan Aviation too enjoyed a bright spell. Power and FMCG stocks rebounded from their lower levels thanks to renewed buying in afternoon trade. Auto and capital goods stocks posted sharp losses.

The Sensex, which opened with a negative gap of around 330 points at 14,569.01 and tumbled to a low of 14,438.59 in intra-day trades, ended at 14,483.83 with a huge loss of 415.27 points or 2.79%. The Nifty settled at 4352.30 with a loss of 95.45 points or 2.15% at 4352.30. The NSE barometer which opened at 4444.70 this morning, touched a low of 4328.90.

Besides several large cap stocks, a number of stocks from midcap and smallcap segments too declined sharply on selling pressure today. The market breadth was weak. Out of 2728 stocks traded on BSE, 1619 stocks closed with losses. 1017 stocks ended on a positive note and 92 stocks ended flat.

Among Sensex stocks, only Hindustan Unilever (1.8%), ITC (0.2%) and ONGC (0.2%) ended in the positive territory. Nifty stock BPCL posted a handsome gain of 7.8%.
Ranbaxy Laboratories plunged 8.75% to Rs 450.25. HDFC lost around 5.75%. DLF and Jaiprakash Associates closed lower by 5.4% and 5.2% respectively.

Wipro eased by 4.85%. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys Technologies and Sterlite Industries lost 4% - 4.5%. Satyam Computer Services, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Grasim Industries, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Motors lost 2% - 4%. State Bank of India slipped by over a per cent and Reliance Communications ended 0.85% down.

Unitech, Cairn India, Punjab National Bank, SAIL, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Nalco, Power Grid Corporation, Ambuja Cements, Tata Communications, Siemens, Zee Entertainment and Hero Honda were among the prominent losers in the Nifty index.

Axis Bank, Essar Oil, Akruti City, Gujarat Minerals, Bharat Forge, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Kotak Bank, Gujarat NRE Coke, Jindal Steel, REI Agro, Essar Shipping, NMDC and Crompton Greaves were some of the major losers from BSE 'A' Group today.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Aban Offshore, Bajaj Holdings, Indian Oil Corporation, Reliance Power, Jet Airways, Phoenix Mills, Bharat Earth Movers, Mphasis, Areva, IDBI Bank, RECL and OnMobile Global ended with impressive gains.

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Source:ET, Sify, BS.