Markets opened weak this morning following cues from the Asian markets. The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi’s) move against Reliance also dampened the sentiment. The stock slipped below the Rs 1,000-mark in early trades.
The Sensex staged a brief recovery around noon, but slipped back into the red, and finally closed with a loss of 118.63 points (0.71 per cent) at 16,601.20.
The Nifty closed 35.10 points down at 4,952.60.
Reliance dragged the benchmark in the morning following reports of the Sebi allegation that the company had routed funds to dummy companies to buy its own shares in 2000. However, the stock recovered and ended with a marginal gain at Rs 1,017.
“The RBI decision to take corrective steps against inflation seems to have sparked fears among investors of the CRR rate being cut. Markets will stay around this range with a negative bias in the holiday-shortened week,” said Mayank Shah, chief executive officer, Anagram Capitals.
However, global markets showed mixed trends. US markets edged up on good quarterly numbers from IT companies. The Nasdaq jumped 1.45 per cent to 2,211.69. The Asian markets, however, ended in the red with the Hang Seng dropping over 1 per cent and the Jakarta Composite shedding 3.12 per cent.
Most sectoral indices were in the red, barring the consumer durables index, which added 1.3 per cent to 3,576.71. Capital goods, metal, auto and realty indices showed weakness and declined over 1 per cent each.
The market breadth was negative. Out of 2,894 stocks traded on BSE, 1,544 declined and 1,270 advanced.
IT company TCS held on to gains and ended up 0.74 per cent on good advance tax numbers.
However a drop in advance taxes cost BHEL and Larsen & Toubro as the stocks slipped 1.35 per cent and 2.38 per cent, respectively.
Ranbaxy surged to its highest in a year on new drug launch in African countries. However, it erased all gains and ended down 0.45 per cent.
