It was not a bad closing after all. Just when we seemed headed the same way as Monday's session, in light of the prevailing nervousness on the global front, a late surge in FMCG and auto stocks led to a partial reversal in the early losses. The Sensex recovered nearly 200 points from its intra-day lows to end at 17961, lower by 61 points and the Nifty regained the 5400 mark to end at 5402, down 13 points. The midcap index ended at 7596, lower by 44 points and the smallcap index ended at 9540, down 95 points.
Wall Street had fallen overnight as worries about the pace of economic recovery overshadowed data showing a rise in consumer spending and income. The Dow ended precariously above the 10k at 10,009, down 1.39%, Nasdaq fell 1.5% to 2,119 and S&P was down 1.47% at 1049. Asia was no different; Japan’s Nikkei shed more than 3% to a 16-month closing low as the Bank of Japan's emergency moves failed to curb the yen's strength, and dragged its other regional peers such as Hang Seng, Taiwan and Shanghai, down by around a percent each. And the European markets were also on a slippery ground, with the benchmark indices in England, Germany and France shedding around a percent each in mid-day trades.
The robust first quarter GDP growth provided no solace to a nervous Street. The economy grew by 8.8% during the quarter ended June on the back of impressive growth in manufacturing output. Manufacturing expanded by strong 12.4% in the April-June quarter as against a mere 3.8% growth in the same period last year. And construction grew from 4.6% to 7.5% during the same period.
It was finally the turn of auto stocks to provide a semblance of respectability to the closing market figures. Autos rose ahead of the August sales data set to be released from September 1. M&M strengthened by 2.8% at Rs 626, Maruti gained 2.1% at Rs 162 and Tata Motors added 1.6% at Rs 1007. ITC gained 2.1% at Rs 162 and Hindustan Unilever was up 0.4% at Rs 264.
On the other hand, RCom weakened by 3.6% at Rs 156 to emerge as the top loser of the day. Jaiprakash Associates shed 3.5% at Rs 108. RIL extended its losses for the seventh consecutive session to end at Rs 918, lower by 3%, on the BSE. The company's entry into the hospitality sector only worsened the weak technical sentiment surrounding the heavyweight counter. It may be recollected that the Mukesh Ambani-led company has joined hands with the Oberoi group promoters to thwart a possible takeover of EIH by rival hospitality player ITC, by buying a 14.12% stake in the Oberoi hotel brand for Rs 1,021 crore. And EIH, which had followed up its 10+ point gains of the previous session by soaring around 7% in early trades, finally succumbed to profit booking to end at Rs 139, down 7.1%.
The market breadth was weak. Out of 3017 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 2064 declining stocks as against 883 advances.
