Budget blues loom large

STOCKS REPORT

Volumes were low yet again on Monday ahead of the announcement of the Union Budget later this week. The BSE Sensex closed at 4843.77, down 0.55 per cent (26.81 points).

Moving in a range of 63 points on either side of the break-even, the Sensex hit a high of 4894.39 and a low of 4831.85 in intra-day trades. The breadth of the market was negative, with losers outpacing gainers 9:7. 18 of the 30 scrips in the Sensex basket closed lower. Turnover in the cash segment was to the tune of Rs 1431.60 crore on the BSE and Rs 3366.08 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Market participants said that sentiment was cautious ahead of the announcement of the Union Budget, with players adopting a wait and watch policy.

The BSE Bankex was the biggest loser yesterday, falling 3 per cent, followed by the BSE PSU index (down 1.81 per cent) and the consumer durables index (down 1.16 per cent). The BSE healthcare index bucked the negative trend, gaining 0.60 per cent. The FMCG index was up 0.30 per cent and the TECk index gained 0.28 per cent.

ICICI Bank was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 3.86 per cent to close at Rs 235.50, followed by State Bank of India, down 3.22 per cent to Rs 430.85. HDFC Bank fell 0.90 per cent to Rs 361.65. Brokers said banking stocks crashed following the RBI directive limiting investments by a single entity in private banks to 10 per cent.

Cipla was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, gaining 3.05 per cent to Rs 224.40. Among other pharma stocks, Ranbaxy Labs was up 2.04 per cent to Rs 931.60 and Dr Reddy's Labs was up 0.93 per cent to Rs 740.40.

Heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 0.82 per cent to Rs 430.55 while HLL gained 0.28 per cent to Rs 127.30. ITC was up 0.78 per cent to Rs 916.95.

Tata Motors fell 2.02 per cent to Rs 377.50 and Maruti Udyog was down 1.05 per cent to Rs 401. ACC fell 1.23 per cent to Rs 237.20 and Gujarat Ambuja Cements fell 1.11 per cent to Rs 272.25.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares on Friday at Rs 61.1 crore while mutual funds were net sellers at Rs 8 crore.