Monsoon forecast dampener

STOCKS REPORT

Markets reacted sharply to the reports that the monsoon will be short of average. Selling pressure was witnessed across the board with the BSE FMCG index losing over a per cent. Investors sold heavily in metals, oil & gas and bank stocks.

The benchmark Sensex lost 74.34 points or 1.1 per cent to 6,655.56. The Nifty ended 22.90 points lower at 2,064.65.

A equity dealer with a domestic broking firm said, "Signs of slowdown in FII inflows and reports of monsoons short of average dampened the sentiment for investors. Sell-off was witnessed across the board and specifically in FMCG stocks."

Metal stocks are continue to drag lower following reduction in prices from June 1. The BSE Metal index was the biggest loser, down 2.26 per cent to close at 5354.14. Hindalco was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, down 3.07 per cent to Rs 1,079.05.

The breadth of the market was negative with 260 advance as against 666 declines. The volumes were moderate and accounted for Rs 2,093.39 crore on BSE and Rs 4,073.72 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). In the 30 shares BSE basket, only 5 shares ended positive.

Among the gainers were L&T, up 3.28 per cent to Rs 1,084.50, Zee Telefilms was up 0.79 per cent to Rs 140.95, HDFC Bank was up 0.76 per cent to Rs 539.20, Bajaj Auto was up 0.61 per cent to Rs 1,263.80 and Dr Reddy's was up 0.60 per cent to Rs 735.85.

The big losers in Thursday's trading were Ranbaxy, down 2.71 per cent to Rs 1,084.20, Reliance Energy was down 2.62 per cent to Rs 513.30, Tata Steel was down 2.15 per cent to Rs 348.60, Maruti Udyog was down 2.13 per cent to Rs 450.85, Reliance was down 1.98 per cent to Rs 529.70 and ITC ended 1.95 per cent lower at Rs 1,560.25.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 205.20 crore on Wednesday while domestic mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2.31 crore.

In a rather subdued market, select pharma stocks ended positive in anticipation of increased merger and acquisition activity in the sector. Among the gainers, Lupin was up 6.5 per cent to Rs 653.95, Unichem Laboratories was up 6.8 per cent to Rs 220.65, Wyeth was up 3.3 per cent to Rs 481 and Nicholas Piramal stock jumped 3 per cent to Rs 259.

Metal stocks ended lower on selling pressure for the second consecutive day. Among steel stocks, Tata Steel was down 2.5 per cent to Rs 347, SAIL was down 2.7 per cent to Rs 51.15, Bhushan Steel was down 6 per cent to Rs 177.55, Lloyds Steel was down 4.7 per cent to Rs 16.90, Uttam

Galva Steel was down 3.8 per cent to Rs 45, and Ispat Industries was down 3 per cent to Rs 19.45.