A slowdown in industrial production cut the five-day long gaining spree of the bechmark Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex, which closed the day lower by over 290 points.
As selling pressure emerged, metal, banks, information technology and realty stocks lost their appeal and ended in the red. The 30-share BSE bellwether index, which gained of 846.96 points in the last five trading sessions, dropped 291.79 points to 15,212.13 after the government announced a fall in industrial production in June.
Industrial growth almost halved to 5.2 per cent in the first quarter of this financial year from 10.3 per cent a year ago, as rising interest rates continued to drag down manufacturing. The key-index, which opened the day on a strong note, touched the day’s high of 15,579.78 and dip to a low of 15,124.91 points.
The National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 68.15 points to close at 4,552.25, after touching the day’s high of 4,649.85 and a low of ,4525.75 points.
ICICI Bank, Sterlite Industries, Jaiprakash Associates, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Steel, which closed down in the range of 4-5 per cent, were the prominent losers.
| LOSING APPEAL | ||
| In Rs | 12-Aug | % Chg* More From This Section |
| Top Gainers | ||
| ITC | 195.5 | 1.19 |
| Mah & Mah | 594.60 | 0.75 |
| Reliance Ind | 2342.25 | 0.70 |
| HUL | 242.95 | 0.60 |
| Grasim Ind | 2073.10 | 0.16 |
| Top Losers | ||
| Tata Steel | 607.95 | -5.71 |
| Maruti Suzuki | 678.05 | -5.23 |
| Jaiprakash Asso | 188.55 | -4.58 |
| Sterlite Ind | 597.05 | -4.46 |
| ICICI Bank | 738.40 | -4.20 |
| * over previous close | ||
Among the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index suffered the most falling by 475.51 points to 12,660.73 followed by Bankex (down 265.08 points to 7437.27), realty (down 113.88 points to 5685.49) and IT (down 110.09 points to 3771.98).
All the 14 constituents, led by Jindal Steel, in the metal sector closed lower. Jindal lost Rs 107.45 at Rs 1,993.60 after the company reduced product prices. JSW Steel fell by Rs 29 at Rs 774.30 and Tata Steel by Rs 36.85 at Rs 609.95.
Among the bank stocks, the prominent losers were State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and Bank of India. Following a fresh fall in Indian rupee against the US dollar, most of the IT stocks came under selling as investors preferred to book profit.
Infosys was down Rs 66.40 to Rs 1603.70. About 60 per cent of the revenue of software firms comes from the US markets. Nine out of the 10 realty index-linked stocks fell sharply on fears of a fresh hike in interest rate by banks. Indiabulls Realestate, Parsvnath Developers, DLF, Shobha Developers and Unitech were prominent losers.
Capital goods index fell by 106.16 points at 12,740.29, Teck index by 75.69 points at 3027.88, healthcare index by 63.63 points at 4235.24, consumer durable index by 65.34 points at 3915.97, PSU index by 72.64 points at 7210.33, auto index by 57.80 points at 3999.70 and power index by 20.68 points at 2744.01.