RIL, ONGC pullback saving grace

STOCK REPORT

Though the BSE Sensex tanked 675 points to 10911.96 during afternoon trades, it managed to end lower by only 388 points on 10,398.61.

A sharp recovery in the index heavyweights Reliance Industries (RIL) and ONGC, helped the market to gain some respectability.

All the sectoral indices ended the day in the red. The biggest loser, BSE FMCG index fell 4.85 per cent while Metals and Bankex lost over four per cent each.

BSE Capital Goods and IT fell 3.81 per cent and 3.66 per cent, respectively. BSE Tech and PSU lost over three per cent each.

The Consumer Durables lost 2.77 per cent, Health Care fell 2.62 per cent while Auto and Oil & Gas lost around two per cent each. The Small-cap index fell 4.06 per cent and the Mid-cap index fell 2.74 per cent.

Oil exploration major ONGC which touched a low of Rs 1,052, sliding over ten per cent, ended the day with 5.63 per cent fall to Rs 1,112.65 on reports that it is likely to share a large subsidy burden of oil marketing companies.

The government mulls raising the subsidy by a staggering 71 per cent this fiscal, to Rs 24,000 crore as part of its bail-out package.

RIL witnessed a smart pull-back from the day's low of Rs 918.60. It finished 0.2 per cent down at Rs 953.25. Grasim lost 5.52 per cent to Rs 1,772.5 while L&T slipped 5.39 per cent to Rs 2,318.3.

Among bike makers, Hero Honda Motors (down 4.09 per cent to Rs 770.8) and Bajaj Auto (down 2.97 per cent to Rs 2744.9) were dented on concerns about pressure on margins and higher fuel prices. The government is expected to review retail fuel prices and taxes on oil products by Friday.

Metal stocks saw aggressive selling in the wake of a sharp overnight fall in metal prices on LME. Shares of Nalco (down 5.92 per cent to Rs 223.45), Hindalco (down four per cent to Rs 177.9), Hindustan Zinc (down 2.28 per cent to Rs 721.5) and SAIL (down 4.95 per cent to Rs 79.7) were the major losers.