Expiry hues dent indices

STOCK REPORT

Key indices ended down 1 per cent today, as investors rolled over outstanding futures and options positions to the March series ahead of February contracts expiry on Thursday.

Losses in index heavyweights Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Hindustan Lever also dragged the market. "There was limited buying by funds today, as valuations are not cheap and earnings for the next year are already factored in," a dealer said.

A weak trend in Asian and European indices also added to investor discomfort over expensive valuations. European shares were down on losses in oil shares, while investors in Japan were cautious ahead of Bank of Japan's decision on interest rates on Wednesday.

The Sensex ended at 14253.38, down 149.5 points or 1 per cent. It touched a low and high of 14230.47 and 14466.76 intraday. The 50-share Nifty ended at 4106.95, down 57.6 points or 1.4 per cent, after touching a low of 4099.55 and a high of 4175.45 earlier.

The Combined turnover on both exchanges was Rs 11,600 crore, down 2.5 per cent from Monday. The CNX Midcap Index was down 1.3 per cent and the S&P CNX 500 Index was down 1.2 per cent.

All the BSE sector indices ended down. The BSE Auto and the BSE Consumer Durables indices ended down 1.5 per cent each on concerns costlier loans may discourage buyers.

Bank shares, which had risen earlier in the session, ended down on profit sales. State Bank of India ended down 2 per cent at Rs 1,108.

The bank, late on Monday, hiked its prime lending rate by 75 basis points to 12.25 per cent following the Reserve Bank of India's hike in cash reserve ratio to 6 per cent last week. Worst hit among the Nifty shares were Suzlon Energy, down 4.4 per cent at Rs 985, Zee Entertainment, down 4.1 per cent at Rs 250 and Oil and Natural Gas Corp, down 3.3 per cent at Rs 876.

ONGC fell today as the company's recent oil find in the Krishna-Godavari basin will not be treated as a discovery. Among gainers, Hindustan Petroleum was up 1.9 per cent at Rs 288, Ranbaxy Laboratories was up 1 per cent at Rs 395, and ITC was up 0.8 per cent at Rs 176.

Hindustan Petroleum rose on short covering ahead of its February futures expiry.