Realty, metal stocks drag markets

The markets are trading on a weak note led by the selling pressure visible in the realty, metal and capital goods stocks. The Sensex is down 133 points at 18,012 levels and the Nifty has shed 39 points at 5,466 levels.

According to Ravi Nathani, Technical analyst, Nsetoday.com, "Markets on charts had a sharp run as result profit booking was expected in the near term, however this would not last for long as Markets have changed its trend from Negative to Positive, therefore best strategy to trade would be buy at dips post a decent correction (Nifty Below 5350 would be the best buying opportunity)."

The Asian markets markets were trading mixed. Hang Seng was down 153 points at 21,393 levels, Taiwan shed 64 points to 7,937 levels. However, Nikkei and Shnaghai were trading higher.

Back home, Sterlite Industries is the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down 6% to Rs 113 extending its previous days 6% fall, on reports of the merger of a group company, Sesa Goa, with itself.

Bharti Airtel has shed 2.7% to Rs 338 on reports that Econet Wireless is seeking at least $3.1 billion in damages from the company in a dispute over ownership of its subsidiary Airtel Nigeria.
 
ICICI Bank, Hindalco, L&T, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra, Cipla and Jindal Steel are also trading lower by 1.5-3% each.

Howerver, HUL, Reliance Industries, SBI, Coal India, ITC, Infosys and BHEL are among the notable gainers.

Realty, metal and capital goods stocks are amongst the worst hit in trades today. The BSE Realty index has shed nearly 4% or 78 points to 1,945 levels. DB Realty is the top loser from this space, down 13.4% to Rs 77. Prestige Estates has shed 7.4% to Rs 99. HDIL, Unitech, Sobha Developers, DLF, Phoenix Mills, Anant Raj Industries  and Oberoi Realty have also shed 2-6% each.

The Metal index has plunged 2% or 245 points at 11,869 levels. NMDC, Bhushan Steel, JSW Steel, Hindustan Zinc, SAIL, and Tata Steel are the draggers from this pack.

Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, Auto, Bankex, Power, PSU, Healthcare and Teck indices are also trading lower by 0,4-1.4% each.

At the same time, IT and Oil & Gas indices are trading marginally higher led by gains in their respective heavyweight stocks like Reliance Industries and Infosys.

Among the individual stocks, Vakrangee Softwares is trading lower by 11% at Rs 493, plunged 15% from day’s high of Rs 577 after the announcements of bonus issue and stock split plans.

The broader markets are also trading lower. The BSE mid-cap index has shed 1.5% or 97 points at 6,278 levels and the small-cap index is down nearly 2% or 128 points at 6,840 levels.

The overall breadth is extremely negative as 1,930 stocks are declining while 703 are advancing.