Sensex plunges 271 pts at close : Sify India

Sensex plunges 271 pts at close


The Sensex opened with a bang, hitting a new high at 20,498.11 at the bell, and after staying in the positive territory for a little over half an hour amid high volatility, drifted into the red as a few blue chip stocks encountered resistance at lost ground. And it never really managed to bounce back into the positive zone after that. Instead, the barometer drifted lower and lower as the session progressed. Though a smart rally around mid afternoon raised some hopes of a sharp recovery, a fresh bout of selling - this time around the pressure proved more intense - knocked the wind out of several blue chip stocks and sent the Sensex crashing down to 20,065.63. With global markets turning weak and no prominent triggers available on the home front, participants chose to exit key counters today.


While the Sensex ended the session with a huge loss of 271.48 points or 1.33% at 20,104.39, the Nifty, which touched a new all-time high at 6185.40 in morning trade but plunged to a low of 6040.40 during the closing minutes, settled at 6058.10 with a loss of 1.64% or 101.20 points.
FMCG heavyweight ITC opened on a firm note and despite a drop in momentum midway through the session ended the day with a handsome gain of 4.15% at Rs 196.90.

Hindustan Unilever took a long time to see action, but managed a modest gain of 0.8% in the end. Metal stocks Tata Steel (2.9%) and Hindalco (1.6%), pharma majors Cipla (2.1%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (0.85%), housing finance stock HDFC (1.1%) and automobile majors Bajaj Auto (1.5%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (0.8%) ended on a firm note. Realty stock DLF edged up marginally to Rs 1022.80.

It turned out to be an extremely weak outing for Bharti Airtel, one of the biggest gainers yesterday. The stock closed with a sharp loss of 6.2% at Rs 987.80. ICICI Bank (down 3.7%), Maruti Suzuki (down 3.45%), Satyam Computer Services (down 2.3%), ONGC (down 2.2%), BHEL (down 2.15%), NTPC (down 1.95%), Ambuja Cements (down 1.9%), State Bank of India (down 1.85%), Reliance Industries (down 1.85%), Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.8%), Infosys Technologies (down 1.55%) and HDFC Bank (down 1.45%) went down sharply.

Tata Motors, which had a brief spell in the positive territory, ended with a loss of 1.25% at Rs 759.85. Larsen & Toubro, Wipro and Reliance Energy lost more than a per cent from their previous closing levels. ACC (down 0.7%), Reliance Communications (down 0.45%) and Grasim Industries (down 0.2%) also ended on a weak note.

Sun Pharmaceuticals, Tata Power, HCL Technologies, GAIL India, Zee Entertainment, Sterlite Industries, BPCL, Nalco, Reliance Petroleum, GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, Suzlon Energy and Unitech closed with sharp losses today.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories gained nearly 3%. Punjab National Bank, Idea Cellular, Hero Honda, VSNL and Cairn India closed with sharp to moderate gains. Lanco Infratech, Gillette, JSW Steel, Spice Telecom, GE Shipping, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Ispat Industries, Cadila Healthcare, Torrent Power, Indian Hotels, Adani Enterprises, IVR Prime, Jet Airways, Tata Tea, EIH Limited, Essel Propack and Lupin posted strong gains.

Micro Inks, Parsvnath Developers, D-Link India, Mastek, Finolex Industries, Edelweiss Capital, National Fertilizers, Syndicate Bank, HTMT Global, Maharashtra Seamless, Mangalore Refineries & Petrochemicals and Tata Chemicals declined sharply.

Realty stock Kolte Patil Developers made a fairly good debut today. The stock opened at Rs 230 on NSE - it remained its high - and ended at Rs 180.15, a few rupees off an intra-day low of Rs 176, at a premium of 24.25% to its issue price. Over 16.75 million shares were traded at the Kolte Patil counter on NSE today.

Though the indices closed with sharp losses, the market breadth remained positive thanks to strong buying in midcap and smallcap stocks. Out of 2928 stocks traded on BSE, 1842 stocks closed higher. 1060 stocks ended on a weak note and 26 stocks finished at their previous closing levels

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