No monsoon magic

STOCKS REPORT

The market fell yesterday despite an official forecast of a near normal monsoon. Technology counters were the biggest losers with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Teck index falling 2.04 per cent and the IT sector index down 0.95 per cent. The benchmark BSE Sensex fell 60.55 points (1.03 per cent) to 5,843.97. The broader National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty lost 16.50 points to close at 1,861.95.

Players said that the market failed to react to the positive news on expected rainfall as it is too early to bet on monsoons. Says a dealer from a local brokerage, "selling pressure in pharma, IT and media stocks lead to the fall today though selective buying was seen in banking, cement and auto scrips."

The breadth of the market remained positive with gainers outpacing losers at 1,008:757. Turnover in the cash segment of BSE was at Rs 2,856.28 crore and on the NSE it was at Rs 6,295.27 crore.

Brokers said that reports of the southwest monsoon this year being near-normal is good news for the markets as sectors such as automobiles, cement, pharmaceuticals and FMCG who derive a large part of their revenues from the rural segment will benefit.

Heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 1.2 per cent to Rs 565.60 and Hindustan Lever shed 1 per cent to Rs 150.65.

Zee Telefilms fell a massive 9 per cent to Rs 131.40, after the company announced lower than expected Q4 results, according to marketmen.

IT stocks witnessed profit taking after a broad-based rally in the sector on Tuesday.

Tech bellwether Infosys Technologies fell 2.8 per cent to Rs 5,334.70, Satyam Computer was down 2 per cent to Rs 327 and Wipro was down 0.4 per cent to Rs 1,597.70 while Hexaware Technologies gained 3.5 per cent to Rs 407.65.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories was down 6.4 per cent to Rs 899.60 and Ranbaxy Laboratories was down 1.8 per cent to Rs 1,019.95.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements was up 4 per cent to Rs 329.65, ACC gained 2.6 per cent to Rs 274.20 and Grasim rose 1.2 per cent to Rs 1,172.55.

Bank of Punjab was up 6.7 per cent to Rs 28.30, Dena Bank gained up 6 per cent to Rs 34.35, Union Bank of India was up 6 per cent to Rs 67.90 and Oriental Bank of Commerce was up 5.7 per cent to Rs 349.

Hindalco fell 3 per cent to Rs 1,296 and Tata Steel was down 2.2 per cent to Rs 394.60.

Debutant Power Trading Corporation of India gained 2.3 per cent to Rs 45.25.