Voltality was the order of the day

STOCK REPORT

Key indices ended marginally lower on Thursday, recovering from a intra-day 2 per cent fall. Foreign funds selling index futures worth Rs 16 billion on Wednesday had made investors jittery, dealers said. Steel Authority of India was the biggest Nifty loser, while Satyam Computer the top gainer. Technology shares, however, held ground.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex closed at 7935.12, down 35.94 points or 0.4 per cent from Wednesday's close. Intra-day, it saw a high of 8134.83 and low of 7838.02 respectively.

The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty ended at 2395.45, down 17.00 points or 0.7 per cent. The index saw a high of 2463.85 and low of 2363.55. The CNX Midcap Index ended 1.4 per cent lower at 3489.65.

Traded volumes, on both exchanges combined, were Rs 104.32 billion against Rs 117 billion on Wednesday. On the BSE, market breadth was highly negative with advances to declines at 378:2087.

Satyam Computer Services today reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2.37 billion for July-September, up 34 per cent on year, beating market estimates of Rs 2.14 billion. The result boosted sentiment for the technology shares, and in turn led indices to nearly 2 per cent gains in early trade.

Satyam Computer ended 5.3 per cent up at Rs 587.45. Among other key technology gainers, Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services ended up around 1 per cent. Wipro shares ended up marginally.

The CNX IT Index bucked the weak trend to end up 1 per cent at 3252.95. In comparison, CNX Bank Index ended down nearly 2 per cent.

Although the markets held aloft for quite a while, they plunged 2 per cent on news of foreign funds selling index futures of Rs 16 billion on Wednesday, dealers said.

"Selling of index futures by foreign funds re-instilled fears of foreign fund outflow among investors and hence weakness crept in. However, there was a good amount of short covering in the last half-hour of trade, which led indices to recover from the levels," said Shiv Kumar Gupta of Jet Age Securities.

In the Nifty, major gainers included Reliance Energy, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Shipping Corp of India, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Videsh Sanchar Nigam, up 1-2 per cent.

Steel Authority of India ended down 7 per cent at Rs 51.65 and was the biggest Nifty loser. Tata Power ended down 6 per cent at Rs 399.50.

Dabur India, Punjab National Bank, Hindalco Industries, Bharat Heavy Electricals, ITC, Sun Pharmaceutical, Jet Airways, Cipla, State Bank of India, Larsen and Toubro, Housing Development Finance Corp, Grasim were down 2-5 per cent. Other key earnings announcements included media major Zee Telefilms and two-wheeler major Hero Honda.

Zee reported a consolidated September quarter net profit of Rs 425 million, sharply lower than market estimates of Rs 807 million. Income for the quarter stood at Rs 3.36 billion. Zee ended down 5 per cent at Rs 156.10, after testing Rs 175.85-levels earlier.

Hero Honda posted a net profit of Rs 2.38 billion, up nearly 23 per cent on year. It was well above market expectations of Rs 2.27 billion. The stock ended up 1.5 per cent at Rs 698.40.

Among second rung shares, Bombay Dyeing was the major gainer on CNX Midcap, up 7 per cent. Sesa Goa ended up 6.4 per cent. Ispat Industries, down 9.4 per cent, was the major loser on CNX Midcap.

Suzlon Energy, which debuted on the NSE and BSE Wednesday, ended at Rs 647.90, down nearly 7 per cent.