UBS dampens mood

STOCKS REPORT

The Securities and Exchange Board of India's ban on UBS accelerated the fall in an already weak market on Tuesday.

The benchmark Sensex after trading in a narrow range during the early part of the trading crashed 62.03 points or 0.95 per cent to close at 6466. The Nifty ended 21.8 points lower to close at 1990.80.

Brokers said, selling intensified across the board as the news of ban on UBS filtered into the market in the afternoon. Sebi imposed a ban on foreign brokerage UBS Securities from issuing offshore derivatives instrument (ODIs) with underlying Indian securities for one full year with respect to its role in the stock market crash on Black Monday (exactly one year ago on May 17, 2004).

The market breadth was highly negative as the BSE and NSE combined figures were 953 : 2284. Traded volumes were in line with the previous session and accounted for Rs 2,183.23 crore on BSE and Rs 4,188.20 crore on NSE.

A technical analyst said, "the indices have retraced from the crucial congestion levels as the Nifty was unable to surpass the 2014 levels and the Sensex 6544 levels on a sustained closing basis. Unless these levels are overcome with high volumes, I expect the markets to witness profit sales from weaker bulls in the near term. Support is likely at the 1966 and the 6408 levels in the coming session. The markets may remain under pressure temporarily and should seek support at lower levels in the coming 2 to 3 sessions."

Investors sold across the board with BSE Consumer Durable and BSE Oil and Gas index being big losers. Both the indices lost over 2 per cent in Tuesday's trading. The BSE Small Cap index lost 82.28 points or 1.9 per cent to 4214.65 and the BSE Mid-Cap index lost 27.54 points or 0.85 per cent to 3214.63.

Only 6 of the 30-share Sensex stocks ended positive. Among the big losers in Tuesday's trading were Reliance Industries which ended 2.63 per cent lower to close at Rs 526, followed by Tata Power, down 2.56 per cent to Rs 359.40, Tata Steel, down 2.51 per cent to Rs 353.80, Reliance Energy was down 2.34 per cent to Rs 487.45 and ONGC was down 2.06 per cent to Rs 872.