The Indian stocks market slipped further into the bear phase today led by consumer durables, realty and banking sectors. The drop was largely due to profit-booking by traders in these sectors ahead of the derivative settlement tomorrow.
Markets opened weak in the morning and slipped further during the day.
The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index or Sensex closed 241.60 points down at 9,686.75 points while the National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 2968.54, down 70.65 points.
Other Asian markets were also weak, with the Hang Seng and Kospi down 2.75 per cent and 2.99 per cent, respectively. However, the Nikkei 225 was up by 1.57 per cent. All indices in the US were down on Monday.
While S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed down by 1.83 per cent and 2.04 per cent, the Dow Jones closed down 0.69 per cent.
Apurv Shah, Head-Research, Prabhudas Lilladher, said that traders were profit-booking today as tomorrow is the derivative settlement day. “Banking and realty stocks have already gained almost 15-20 per cent. From here, the market looks stable,” said Shah.
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The breadth of the market was fairly negative as well. Of 2,559 stocks traded, 725 advanced and 1,752 declined.
The consumer durables index fell 5.81 per cent, realty by 4.84 per cent and Bankex by 3.76 per cent.
Among companies, Satyam Computer Services fell the most. The stock tumbled by 13.55 per cent to Rs 140.40 on reports that the World Bank debarred the firm for eight years following the Maytas acquisition fiasco.
Also, there were rumours that Wipro would be taking over the company and Chairman Ramalinga Raju has resigned from the company.
Other stocks that performed badly included Larsen & Turbo (-4.9 per cent), ICICI bank (-4.32 per cent) and HDFC Bank (- 3.92 per cent).