Sensex drops 150pts; cement stocks crumble

Mirroring the weak trend in the global markets, the Sensex opened with a negative gap of 34 points at 12,401. Heavy all-round selling in the opening deals saw the index tumble to a low of 12,224 - down 211 points from its previous close.

The index, thereafter, staged a smart recovery and touched a high of 12,422 - a bounce of 198 points from the low. However, a fresh round of selling towards the end saw the index tumble back before finally settling with a loss of 1.2% (150 points) at 12,285.

The BSE Oil & Gas index plunged over 3% to 5,946. The Bankex dropped 2.2% to 5,624, and the PSU index shed 1.7% at 6,347. The FMCG index was down 1% at 2,263.

The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,614 stocks traded, 1,487 declined, 1,065 advanced and the rest were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cement stocks came under heavy selling pressure after Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said the government would implement price controls from Monday.

Gujarat Ambuja slumped 7.5% to Rs 106, and ACC plunged 7% to Rs 897. Grasim shed 2.3% to Rs 2,251.

Reliance tumbled 3.7% to Rs 1,067, and ONGC dropped 2.8% to Rs 1,417.

ICICI Bank declined 3.6% to Rs 636. SBI slipped 1.7% to Rs 959.

While HLL dropped 1.5% to Rs 274, ITC declined 1.2% to Rs 201.

Larsen & Toubro surged 2.2% to Rs 2,837. NTPC moved up 1.4% to Rs 131. Hero Honda gained 1.3% at Rs 882.

OTHER GAINERS & LOSERS

Novopan Industries hit the 20% upper limit at Rs 88.25. Pritish Nandy, Shriram City, Mahindra Gesco, Kamdhenu Ispat, Bombay Burmah, Malwa Cotton, Fag Bearings and Hinduja TMT were the othe major gainers today.

J K Lakshmi plunged over 11% to Rs 144. OCL India, Dalmia Cement, Kesoram Industries, Gujarat Alkalies, UTV Software, India Infoline, R K Forgings, Birla Corporation, Alok Industries, RCF, Bank of India, BPCL, India Cement and Syndicate Bank were the other significant losers.

The newly listed Reliance Petro moved in a range of Rs 83-87 before settling with a loss of 1.8% at Rs 84.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 328.19 crore followed by ACC (Rs 146.69 crore), Reliance Petro (Rs 146.55 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 122.31 crore) and Reliance Communication Ventures (Rs 118.22 crore).

Reliance Petro led the volume chart with trades of around 1.72 crore shares followed by IFCI (1.08 crore), Kamdhenu Ispat (1.17 crore), Lloyd Steel (89 lakh) and Ashok Leyland (70.43 lakh).