Rupee woes, rate blues spook indices

STOCK REPORT

Profit booking pushed key indices down in a volatile session on Monday. The fall was aided by concerns about the rupee's fall, strengthening of interest rates here and equity sales by foreign institutions. Sensex and Nifty slid more than 2 per cent for the fifth time since they hit respective all-time highs on October 5.

Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex closed at 7920.80, down 148.15 points, or 1.8 per cent. National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty ended at 2394.85, down 48.90 points, or 2 per cent.

The day's high for Sensex was 8126.27 and low 7898.41. Nifty's high was 2460.00 and low 2388.40. Market breadth surprisingly remained positive as 55 per cent of total shares traded on BSE ended up. BSE's A and Z group only showed negative breadth.

Mid-cap and small-cap shares resisted the weakness elsewhere. "Markets will gain clarity post the events like derivatives contracts expiry, Federal Open Market Committee meet, Tuesday's RBI credit policy review and September quarter earnings," said Kamlesh Kotak, research head, Asian Markets Securities.

CNX Bank Index ended down 2 per cent at 4049.15. Shares of public sector State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce ended 3 per cent each. Private sector banks like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down 2 per cent each.

Auto shares rode on encouraging September quarter performance. Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog, and Bajaj Auto rose 1 per cent, 2 per cent, and 3 per cent respectively. Shares of Gujarat Ambuja Cements and Associated Cement Cos rose 1 per cent each.

Oil retailing companies Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp gained 1 per cent and 3 per cent respectively as the crude oil was below $60 a barrel as concerns over Hurricane Wilma wreaking further damage on oil and gas fields eased.

Ranbaxy Laboratories, down 9 per cent at Rs 353.20, was the biggest loser among Nifty stocks. It continued the downward journey that began after unfavourable Lipitor-ruling by UK court and 91 per cent fall in its third quarter net profit.

All frontline pharmaceutical shares except GlaxoSmithkline Pharmaceuticals were down 1-9 per cent. BSE Healthcare Index plunged 3.3 per cent to 2710.63 and was the biggest loser amongst all the indices on the exchange.

Index heavyweights like Reliance Industries and Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Infosys Technologies and Wipro were down 2-3 per cent.

In contrast to the big fall in major indices, the CNX Midcap Index fell a mere 0.1 per cent to 3534.30. BSE Small Cap Index ended with 0.5 per cent gains.

Shree Cements, up 11 per cent and Pantaloon Retail India, up 7 per cent, were the biggest mid-cap gainers. Century Textile and Industries and Polaris Software were the major losers, down 6 per cent each.

Tuesday to Saturday, 18 Nifty companies will detail September quarter results, which according to Kotak will give a sense of direction about the market.

CNX IT Index was down 1.5 per cent at 3249.10. Satyam Computer Services was the sole frontline IT share that rose, up 1 per cent.