Unchecked unloading

STOCKS REPORT

Bargain buying in blue chips at lower levels helped the market recover somewhat, but the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed below the break-even.

Investors remained sellers in blue chips and midcaps for the third consecutive day. Selling was seen in auto, pharma, technology and consumer durables counters, which were among the biggest losers today. Select buying was seen in capital goods scrips.

In the BSE Sensex basket, 19 out of the 30 scrips closed lower. The breadth of the market was negative, with losers outpacing gainers 14:9 on the BSE.

Brokers said that though the initial selling pressure dragged the market down, a late buying effort from institutions helped the market recover from the day's lows. A dealer from Sharekhan said, "A lack of direction or impetus is leading to the volatility and rangebound market."

Players said that the expiry of the current month futures contracts next week and the Union Budget on 28 February are causing investors to shift positions in the futures segment, leading to the weakness and volatility.

The BSE Sensex hit a high of 6599.48 and a low of 6532.50 in intra-day trades before closing at 6589.29, down 18.49 points (0.28 per cent) from Wednesday's close. Volumes were lower than on Wednesday in the cash segment of the bourses; the BSE reported a turnover of Rs 2021.60 crore and the NSE reported a turnover of Rs 4308.84 crore.

Hero Honda was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, losing 3.27 per cent to close at Rs 531.35, followed by Bharti Tele-Ventures, down 2.10 per cent to Rs 210.25. Zee Telefilms fell 1.61 per cent to Rs 149.95, Hindalco was down 1.55 per cent to Rs 1,363.35 and Wipro fell 1.36 per cent to Rs 697.40.

Tata Steel was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, rising 1.32 per cent to Rs 411.85. HLL gained 0.69 per cent to Rs 144.90, L&T gained 0.63 per cent to Rs 1,019.30, Satyam Computer rose 0.46 per cent to Rs 408.25 and Reliance Energy was up 0.43 per cent to Rs 555.10.

Strong buying support from foreign funds has helped the market record a big rally but the undertone of the market is cautious as a lack of active domestic participation have raised concerns, market players said.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 473 crore on Wednesday as per data from the Sebi website.