In negative territory again

STOCK REPORT

Broad-based selling in the last hour of trade pulled the key indices into negative territory for the second straight session on Thursday.

Market players said the correction was expected and much needed after the sharp run-up this month.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex ended at 9170.40, down 71.36 points or 0.77 per cent from Wednesday. The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty closed at 2778.55, down 26.00 points or 0.93 per cent.

Intra-day, the Sensex touched a high of 9298.28 and low of 9117.26. The Nifty touched a high and low of 2821.50 and 2763.35, respectively.

"The base is high and a 2-3 per cent fall in the Sensex from current levels should not be any cause for concern. There is a fair amount of liquidity in the market and as of now there are no negatives to cause a trend reversal," said Nikhil Gholani, vice-president at SSKI Securities.

So far this month, foreign institutional investors have infused $599 million into Indian equities. In November they had invested $994 million.

Commenting on the weak market breadth over the past few sessions, despite indices registering lifetime highs, dealers said it was mostly the third line shares posting a loss and hence there was nothing to worry about. On Thursday, declines outnumbered advances nearly 2:1.

Satyam Computer Services, up over 6 per cent at Rs 724, topped the list of gainers on the Nifty. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, Cipla, Zee Telefilms and National Aluminium Co featured among the other handful of gainers.

Banking shares were among the biggest losers. Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank fell 1-3 per cent. The CNX Bank Index shed 2.5 per cent to close at 4406.10.

Most other indices, including CNX Midcap, ended lower.

Hexaware Technologies ended as top mid-cap gainer, up nearly 6 per cent, while Pantaloon Retail India ended nearly 13 per cent down.

Everest Kanto Cylinder, which debuted on the exchanges on Thursday, ended 26 per cent higher compared with its initial public offer price of Rs 160.

Vimta Labs ended nearly 11 per cent up at Rs 908.50, while Orient Abrasives ended marginally lower at Rs 34.25. Both got listed on the NSE on Thursday.