Oil, gas shares worst hit

STOCK REPORT

Key share indices ended down 2%, with National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty breaking the crucial support level of 4200, on basket selling by foreign funds, dealers said.

Oil and gas shares were the worst hit, as index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Oil and Natural Gas Corp slid more than 3% each.

"Most sectors were overbought and we saw some heavy profit booking. Basket selling by foreign funds in the last hour pushed the indices lower," a dealer said.

Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex ended at 14255.93, down 279.08 points or 1.9% from Tuesday. It moveAd between 14234.07 and 14590.82 during the day.

Nifty ended at 4198.25, down 86.40 points or 2%. It moved intraday between 4190.95 and 4324.10.

The turnover on both the exchanges was roughly Rs 155 billion compared with Rs 136 billion on Tuesday.

CNX Midcap Index and S&P CNX 500 Index ended down 2% each.

BSE Oil Gas Index, down 3.3%, was the worst hit among the BSE sectoral indices, weighed down by a fall in Reliance Industries and ONGC.

Reliance Industries ended down 3.5% at Rs 1,685, despite reports the company is likely to invite bids to sell gas from its Krishna-Godavari Basin by month-end. ONGC ended down 3.4% at Rs 864.

The bank shares were beaten down on profit sales after the run-up seen in the last few sessions. Punjab National Bank, down 5% at Rs 510, was the worst hit on Nifty.

Steel Authority of India was down 5% at Rs 132 on news the company has cut prices of products by as much as Rs 300 a tonne.

Tata Steel ended down 4% at Rs 618 on worries the company may cut the product prices, dealers said.

Ranbaxy Laboratories and Zee Entertainment, down 4% each at Rs 377 and Rs 291 respectively, were the other major Nifty laggards.

Hindalco Industries, up 2% at Rs 149, was the top Nifty gainer amid speculation that Canada's Alcan may launch a hostile bid for the company.