Market fails to sustain higher level

The market skidded once again in afternoon trade taking cues from weak European markets which opened after Indian markets. After an initial slide, the market had pared losses in mid-morning trade. Weak Asian markets had pulled down the markets at the onset of the trading session. Larsen & Toubro and Wipro were major losers from Sensex pack. Bharat Heavy Electricals and State Bank of India were major gainers from Sensex pack.

Capital goods, IT and oil & gas stocks declined. Except BSE Consumer Durables index rest of the sectoral indices on BSE were in red. However BSE Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices rose. The market breadth was negative.

At 13:27 IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 254.68 points or 1.62% at 15,501.08. At the day’s low of 15,479.42, Sensex lost 277.66 points in mid-morning trade.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 76.2 points or 1.6% at 4,685.

The market breadth was negative: on BSE 1184 shares advanced as compared to 1,236 that declined. 60 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index up 0.17% to Rs 6,355.41 and BSE Small-Cap index up 0.13% to 7,788.06.

The key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were down by between 0.65% to 1.79%.

European markets opened weak. France’s CAC, Germany’s DAX and UK’s FTSE 100 were down by between 0.64% to 1.09%.

Consumer durables stocks rose. Rajesh Exports (up 4.6% to Rs 81.90), Titan Industries (up 1.86% to Rs 1,046) and Lloyd Electric (up 0.62% to Rs 97.90) edged higher.

Capital goods stocks declined. Larsen & Toubro (down 4.85% to Rs 2,588) and Suzlon Energy (down 1.44% to Rs 290.05) edged lower. However, India’s largest power equipment maker by sales Bharat Heavy Electricals rose 4.21% to Rs 1,705.15.

IT stocks declined. Wipro (down 4.85% to Rs 412.05), Tata Consultancy Services (down 2.19% to Rs 881), Infosys (down 1.67% to Rs 1,466.95) and Satyam Computer Sevices (down 1.56% to Rs 425.20) edged lower.

Oil & Gas stocks declined. ONGC (down 1.66% to Rs 1,001), Reliance Petroleum (down 1.9% to Rs 168.20), Cairn India (down 1.38% to Rs 224.900) and Gail India (down 1.01% to Rs 425.30) edged lower.

India’s largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries declined 1.73% to Rs 2,364. A consortium of Reliance Industries (RIL) has reportedly discovered oil in Yemen. The discovery in Block 9 in Qarn Qaymah 2 well is considered to be significant, and RIL is in process of evaluating the viability.

Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.75% to Rs 223.25), Grasim Industries (down 2.95% to Rs 2,550), Hindustan Unilever (down 2.96% to Rs 245.50), ACC (down 2.4% to Rs 816.25), Tata Steel (down 2.59% to Rs 661.75) and NTPC (down 2.15% to Rs 186.70) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

India’s largest commercial bank State Bank of India rose 0.13% to Rs 1,674.05.