Tech scrips evade meltdown

STOCKS REPORT

Technology scrips bucked the negative trend but the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex slumped for the fifth straight day, falling 170 points to the day's low of 4,665.21 on institutional and fund selling before late buying helped it recover somewhat.

The Sensex finally closed at 4,759.62, down 1.57 per cent (75.77 points) from Friday's close, in an extremely volatile trading session.

The BSE IT sector index was the biggest gainer today, up 1.44 per cent and the TECk index gained 1.36 per cent while the BSE Bankex was the biggest loser, falling 5.40 per cent, followed by capital goods sector index, down 4.46 per cent.

Fears of foreign fund outflows increasing and oil price concerns seem to have severely dented market sentiment which is anyway at an ebb due to worries about the economic policies of the new government, said brokers.

The broader market was negative, with only 362 gainers versus 1,263 losers on the BSE. The 30-scrip Sensex basket saw 24 scrips closing lower.

Dr Reddy's Labs was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, down 10.29 per cent to Rs 796.25, followed by ICICI Bank, down 6.49 per cent to Rs 230.35 and Bharti Tele-Ventures fell 6.27 per cent to Rs 138.25.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty fell 25.15 points to close at 1,483.60.

Tech bellwether Infosys Technologies was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket today, up 3.01 per cent to Rs 5,208.90, followed by Satyam Computer, gaining 2.80 per cent to Rs 313.60. Wipro rose 1.51 per cent to Rs 1,527.25.

Heavyweights State Bank of India fell 4.09 per cent to Rs 465, ITC was down 0.45 per cent to Rs 878.95, Reliance Industries fell 0.13 per cent to Rs 430.50 and HLL was down 0.11 per cent to Rs 137.10.

Tata Motors was down 5.22 per cent to Rs 366.55, Maruti Udyog fell 4.42 per cent to Rs 386.70 and Hero Honda Motor was down 1.33 per cent to Rs 446.20.

BHEL was down 5.99 per cent to Rs 435.10, Tata Power fell 4.60 per cent to Rs 262.25 and Reliance Energy was down 2.35 per cent to Rs 486.05.

ONGC fell 3.71 per cent to Rs 625.45 and HPCL was down 4.10 per cent to Rs 300.65.

Volumes in the market were lower than on Friday, with the BSE registering a turnover of Rs 2,032.76 crore and the NSE Rs 4,502.19 crore in the cash segment.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 189.10 crore on Friday but have been net sellers to the tune of Rs 3,271.80 crore in May so far. Mutual funds sold shares worth Rs 75.60 crore on Friday but have been net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,155.90 crore in May.

Market participants said that bargain buying at lower levels helped the market recover almost all losses in afternoon trades, lead by value buying in tech scrips, which is unlikely to be affected by political developments.

But sustained selling pressure coupled with lack of buying dragged it down again. Analysts add that bank scrips were particularly hit as investors sold banking shares on fears that the new government's populist approach may hit banks the most.