Politics plays spoilsport

STOCKS REPORT

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed 1.24 per cent (70.10 points) down at 5584.99 on Monday on dull buying over political uncertainty and Chinese demand concerns.

The Sensex lost almost 150 points in intra-day trades to touch a new one-month low of 5506 points, before regaining some ground on bargain buying at lower levels.

The market breadth was extremely negative with losers outpacing gainers in the 1,230:422 ratio on the BSE. Volumes were down, with the cash market turnover on the BSE at Rs 2,152.03 crore and at Rs 4,860.21 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

The NSE Nifty fell 29.40 points to close at 1,766.70.

The market fell further into the negative territory on the first day of the new week but bargain buying at lower levels resulted in a recovery.

A dealer at a local brokerage said, "Lack of buying was seen as players opted a wait-and-watch strategy before the third round of elections begins."

Brokers said that commodity stocks witnessed selling pressure, dragging the market lower on fears of a slowdown in demand from China. Fears of a dip in foreign fund inflows are also worrying market participants.

The BSE PSU Index was the largest loser on the BSE, down 2.93 per cent over its previous close. The capital Goods Index fell 2.25 per cent, consumer durables index was down 1.74 per cent, Bankex fell 1.62 per cent and the IT sector index slipped 0.62 per cent.

However, the FMCG index closed in the positive territory with a gain of 0.23 per cent.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation was down 4.39 per cent at Rs 440.25, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam down 3.07 per cent at Rs 143.7, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation down 2.59 per cent at Rs 818.25 and BHEL down 1.67 per cent at Rs 576.55.

Larsen & Toubro was down 3.06 per cent at Rs 550, ACC fell 2.93 per cent to Rs 271.75 and Gujarat Ambuja Cements was down 2.78 per cent to Rs 323.35.

Hindalco fell 4.33 per cent to Rs 1,066.45, while Tata Steel was down 4.28 per cent to Rs 342.50.

Hero Honda Motors was down 4.27 per cent at Rs 462.20 and Maruti Udyog fell 1.70 per cent to Rs 534.80.

State Bank of India fell 3.76 per cent to Rs 618.45, Hindustan Lever was up 1.13 per cent to Rs 142.80, ITC was up 0.60 per cent to Rs 1,082 and Reliance Industries gained 0.36 per cent to Rs 528.30.

Satyam Computer fell 3.35 per cent to Rs 310.1, Infosys Technologies was up 0.70 per cent at Rs 5,183.10 and Wipro gained 0.52 per cent to Rs 1,552.45.