Rudderless run

STOCKS REPORT

All major Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) indexes closed in the negative territory on Thursday with capital goods, metal, oil and automobile counters among the biggest losers. But volumes remained low on the bourses.

The BSE Sensex closed at 5,641.06, losing 0.56 per cent (31.96 points) from Wednesday's close. The Sensex hit an intra-day high of 5,685.18 and a low of 5,617.37. Blue-chips witnessed selling pressure, with 24 out of the 30 Sensex stocks closing lower.

The broader market, though, did not reflect the same broad-based selling with losers outpacing gainers 9:7 on the BSE.

Brokers said the market lacked direction today as players booked profits, dragging the indices down.

They added that international oil prices and lower-than-expected quarterly numbers from some blue chips played the damper. Market players said investors booked profits in blue chips ahead of an extended weekend.

Analysts said the threat from rising international oil prices is real and investors are holding back from investing in the market.

The BSE capital goods index was the biggest loser on Thursday, down 1.23 per cent, followed by the Metal index, down 1.15 per cent, Oil & Gas index fell 1.01 per cent and the auto index was down 0.84 per cent.

HDFC was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, up 1.75 per cent to Rs 663.45, followed by Infosys Technologies gained 1.07 per cent to Rs 1,777.70, State Bank of India (SBI) was up 0.54 per cent to Rs 462.20, Tata Power gained 0.53 per cent to Rs 314, Hindustan Lever (HLL) was up 0.16 per cent to Rs 124.85 and ICICI Bank gained 0.12 per cent to Rs 290.65.

Zee Telefilms was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, down 4.05 per cent to Rs 154.05, followed by Bajaj Auto down 2.68 per cent to Rs 956, Larsen & Toubro down 2.26 per cent to Rs 820.30, Satyam Computer fell 2.24 per cent to Rs 371.05 and Ranbaxy down 1.90 per cent to Rs 1,070.15.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Indian shares worth Rs 13 crore, while domestic mutual funds were net sellers to the tune of Rs 42.70 crore on Wednesday.

Turnover was low in the cash segment of the bourses. The BSE reported a turnover of Rs 1,551.50 crore and the National Stock Exchange reported a turnover of Rs 3,220.63 crore.