Blue chips drubbed

STOCKS REPORT

The markets continued to wane for the third straight day today on lack of buying support and profit-taking. Selling pressure buffetted the bluechip stocks the most.

The benchmark Bombay Stock exchange (BSE) Sensex plummeted by 109.43 points to close at 5649.86 points. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty, a broader index, dived by 38.95 points to end at 1,805.40.

Shares traded in the negative territory for most part of the day. Select counters saw bargain hunting, but the overall sentiment was negative, with losers outnumbering gainers by 1,206:567.

Volumes, too, received a drubbing. The cash market turnover on the BSE plunged by 4 per cent to Rs 2,379.83 crore and that on the NSE dived by 8 per cent to Rs 4,831.85 crore.

Market players indicate that markets may remain rangebound with no short-term triggers till the quarterly results are announced.

Says a dealer from a domestic brokerage, "Lack of buying support coupled with selling pressure on account of profit-taking has led to today's weakness." "Shares in steel, cement and technology firms saw heavy selling pressure."

Index heavyweight State Bank of India declined by 2.66 per cent to Rs 599.85, ITC fell 2.02 per cent to Rs 1,148.45 and Reliance Industries was down 1.28 per cent at Rs 565.

Hero Honda Motor falling 4.49 per cent to Rs 472.40, Bajaj Auto was down 4.42 per cent at Rs 857.95 and Tata Motors was down 3.40 per cent at Rs 486.05. Cement pivotals Gujarat Ambuja Cements was down 4.61 per cent at Rs 297.15, ACC was down 3.25 per cent to Rs 256.05, L&T was down 3.31 per cent at Rs 565.30 and Grasim was down 3.13 per cent at Rs 1,107.85.

ICICI Bank was down 3.75 per cent at Rs 279.75, HDFC was down 2.25 per cent at Rs 613.90 and HDFC Bank was down 0.86 per cent to Rs 375.30.

Software services firms remained weak amid worries over US backlash against jobs offshoring. Wipro fell 1.13 per cent at Rs 1,438.50, Infosys Technologies was down 0.70 per cent at Rs 4,853.85 and Satyam Computer was down 0.41 per cent at Rs 292.80.

Steel Authority of India Ltd fell more than two percent to Rs 41.05 and Tata Steel fell almost four percent to Rs 418.45. BPCL was down 4.5 percent to Rs 464.35 and Reliance Energy lost more than four percent to Rs 736.15.

Shares in Hindustan Lever and Dr Reddy's Laboratories were the only ones that bucked the broad market trend. The HLL share shot up by 3 per cent to close at Rs 154.30 and Dr Reddy's went up by 1.70 per cent to end at Rs 1,065.40.