Closing Bell: Market consolidates, techs badly bruised

Closing Bell: Market consolidates, techs badly bruised

It was a choppy session for equities on Monday on account of mixed global cues, which finally saw key indices end with losses. Fears about corporate earnings with higher fuel charges, inflation and the likelihood of further monetary tightening also did not leave investors' minds.

"Though there is nothing positive for the market to go by, price wise, we have already seen a very sharp correction, and for the time being, I don't see the indices declining much further than current levels. I don't expect any sharp movement on either side. On the Nifty, 4000 is a strong support level, while resistance is faced around 4150," said Viral Doshi, independent technical and derivatives analyst.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended at 4,039.70, down 9.3 points or 0.23 per cent. It touched a high of 4,118.10 and low of 4,004.25. Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex closed at 13,330.51, down 139.34 points or 1.03 per cent. It touched a high of 13,559.36 and low of 13,269.62.

Ranbaxy Laboratories (-10.45%), Satyam Computer (-7.92%), Infosys Technologies (7.18%), Tata Consultancy Services (3.79%) and HDFC (3.38%) were the major Sensex losers. The gainers comprised ONGC (3.24%), NTPC (3.15%), Mahindra & Mahindra (2.91%), State Bank of India (2.9%) and Tata Steel (2.69%).

BSE Mid-cap Index ended 0.64 per cent lower at 5,330.80 and BSE Small-cap Index closed down 1.1 per cent at 6,640.06. Market breadth remained negative through the day. On BSE, 1,576 shares declined and 1,009 advances. IT stocks were punished yet again, following a leading brokerage downgrade on industry major Infosys citing concerns demand from US customers may slow. The BSE IT Index lost 5.94 per cent.

On Friday, data showed industrial production rose 3.8 per cent in May 2008, much lower than the revised 6.2 per cent growth in April 2008. Inflation based on the wholesale price index rose 11.89 per cent in 12 months to June 28, above the previous week's annual rise of 11.63 per cent. It was the highest in more than 13 years. Elsewhere in Asia, markets were choppy on account of renewed concerns over the US mortgage market. High oil prices also continued to weigh, after touching a record $147 per barrel on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.23 per cent, Hang Seng closed down 0.77 per cent in Hong Kong, Taiwan's TAIEX shed 1.21 per cent and Singapore's Straits Times dropped 0.78 per cent.
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Source: ET