Mid-caps get sinking feeling

The mid- and small-cap indices bore the brunt of market volatility on Monday even as the Sensex shed 281 points.

The BSE Mid-Cap Index fell by 3.66 per cent (273.91 points) to 7,211.60, while the BSE Small-Cap Index tanked by 3.13 per cent (300.81 points) to close at 8,801.

The overall market breadth was negative with 2,263 stocks (81.32 per cent) declining, while only 474 stocks (17.03 per cent) advanced during the day. Among the Sensex stocks, only 7 advanced, while 23 declined.

Tata Steel, which was down 5.27 per cent to Rs 789, was the top Sensex Sensex, followed by ACC (down 5.23 percent to Rs 1,115.10), Reliance Energy (down 4.67 per cent to Rs 1,379.60) and NTPC (down 4.57 per cent to Rs 204.65).

Index major Reliance Industries was down by 2.70 per cent to Rs 2,416.95. DLF, which is slated to replace Dr Reddy's Labs in the Sensex, declined by 1.48 per cent to Rs 839.10.

IT stocks, however, bucked the trend. The BSE IT Index was marginally up 0.63 per cent. Satyam Computers gained 2.50 per cent at Rs.455.55, Wipro was up by 1.84 per cent at Rs.469.65 and TCS was up by 0.78 per cent at Rs.1,078.50. Infosys Technologies, which will announce its quarterly results on Thursday, gained 0.54 per cent to close at Rs.2000.25.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets closed on a mixed note. The Shanghai Composite gained 2.53 per cent to close at 5,692, while the Taiwan Weighted too was up by 1.04 per cent to 9,717. The Nikkei was down by 0.16 per cent at 17,065, while the Hang Seng lost 0.22 per cent to close at 27,770.