Sensex slips 82 pts on low buying interest

Taking a cue from mostly weak world markets, sustained selling pressure coupled with lack of buying interest dragged the stock market down on Monday amid low volumes.

The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed below the 6,400 level even as investor expectations built up over corporate results.

Investors sold technology, oil, consumer durables and banking shares, which were among the biggest losers on Monday. In the BSE Sensex basket, 24 out of the 30 scrips closed lower. The breadth of the market was also negative, with losers outpacing gainers almost two to one.

The Bharti Tele-Ventures scrip was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 2.35 per cent to close at Rs 208.05, followed by the Maruti Udyog scrip, which slipped 2.36 per cent to Rs 401.85, the L&T scrip fell by 2.38 per cent to Rs 958.55, the Satyam Computer scrip was down 2.61 per cent to Rs 400.80 and the ICICI Bank stock fell 2.77 per cent to Rs 394.25.

Gainers in the Sensex basket included the HDFC Bank scrip, up 2.24 per cent to close at Rs 559.10. The Bajaj Auto scrip gained 1.26 per cent to Rs 1066.20, Ranbaxy Labs' stock was up 0.89 per cent to Rs 986.30, the BHEL scrip was up 0.62 per cent to Rs 782.80, Dr Reddy's Labs gained 0.23 per cent to Rs 746.65 and Gujrat Ambuja Cement was up 0.21 per cent to Rs 404.95.

Brokers said the market was expected to remain range-bound, waiting for a fresh impetus. They are hoping that the results season will provide the much-awaited direction.

Opening in negative territory, the BSE Sensex hit a low of 6382.13 in intra-day trades before closing at 6397.52, down 82.02 points (1.27 per cent) from Friday's close.

A dealer at Motilal Oswal Securities said, "Going ahead, volatility is expected as investors factor in company results. There is some selling as players prefer sitting on cash, looking ahead to the April earnings season for direction."

Technology stocks were among the worst hit ahead of the start of the corporate results season. Some analysts were of the view that the recent correction was actually to factor in any negatives in the March quarter results and the markets may see a rally after the results season.

Foreign institutinal investors (FIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 54.30 crore on Friday while mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 65.42 crore according to figures on the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) website.