Still on slippery ground

STOCKS REPORT

Despite the market losing ground on selling pressure, its breadth remained positive, with gainers outpacing losers by 968:700.

Players felt selling pressure due to the expiry of the April futures contracts yesterday, adding that the undertone remained subdued amid political uncertainty.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed at 5,668.43, falling 44.66 points from yesterday's close. The Sensex touched a high of 5,710.56 and a low of 5,626.41 in the intra-day trades, down almost 88 points at one point. Short covering and bargain buying at lower levels helped the market recover somewhat.

The biggest loser on the BSE was the BSE Teck index, down 0.63 per cent to 1,211.08. The IT sector index fell 0.43 per cent and the capital goods index was down 0.35 per cent.

Despite index heavyweight HLL falling, the FMCG sector index gained 0.40 per cent. The Bankex was up 0.32 per cent and the PSU sector index was up 0.19 per cent.

Volumes were high in the cash segment of the bourses, with the BSE recording Rs 2,391.90 crore and the NSE reporting Rs 6,275.58 crore.

Though heavyweight Reliance Industries reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, the counter fell 2.05 per cent to Rs 529.20, off its day's high of Rs 544 - on selling at higher levels.

Other index heavyweight Hindustan Lever (HLL) reported disappointing results on Thursday. HLL was down 0.62 per cent to Rs 143.95.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty closed 7.60 points lower at 1,808.95.

Elsewhere, Hindalco was down 5.55 per cent to Rs 1,135.20, Zee Telefilms was down 5.15 per cent to Rs 136.20 and Tata Steel fell 4.10 per cent to Rs 368.40.

Says a dealer from a local brokerage, "the market looks weak in the near term as the uncertainty over the formation of the new government will keep investors away. Most participants are playing the wait and watch game."

Dr Reddy's Labs was down 4.17 per cent to Rs 865.30, HPCL was down 3.39 per cent to Rs 457.55 and tech bellwether Infosys Technologies was down 1.06 per cent to Rs 5,043.70.

Grasim was up 3.37 per cent to Rs 1,237.50, Gujarat Ambuja Cements was up 2.40 per cent to Rs 331.15 and ACC gained 1.80 per cent to Rs 274.75.

Cipla was up 2.25 per cent to Rs 1,347.75 and Ranbaxy Labs was up 0.75 per cent to Rs 1,069.15.