Weak market breadth

The market extended losses in the mid-morning trade. Overnight slide in US stocks and surge in crude oil prices were the major drag on sentiment today. Crude futures hit a record high of $120.36 a barrel on the NYMEX yesterday on heightened supply fears.

FMCG and consumer durables stocks moved higher, whereas IT and realty stocks slipped. Mid-caps and small-caps snapped previous session’s gains as investors resorted to profit booking.

US markets declined yesterday, 5 May 2008, with financial shares facing the maximum brunt on fears of Bank of America Corp likely to abandon its deal to buy Countrywide Financial Corp. However, Bank of America said after the closing bell that it remained committed to acquiring Countrywide.

Asian markets were mixed today, 6 May 2008. Key indices in China and Singapore were down 0.03% to 0.47%. However, key indices in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan were up 0.04% to 0.42%. Japanese markets are closed today on account of holiday.

At 11:20 IST, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 102.57 points or 0.59% at 17,388.33. The index lost 151.38 points at day’s low of 17,339.52, hit in mid-morning trade. Sensex gained 11.25 points at day’s high of 17,502.15, hit at the onset of trading session.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 21.3 points or 0.41% at 5170.95.

The market breadth was negative on BSE with 905 shares advancing as compared to 1312 stocks that declined. 67 stocks remained unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.22% to 7,283.43 and BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.33% to 8,816.49.

India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries fell 0.85% at Rs 2,643.

India’s top listed cellular service provider by market share Bharti Airtel slipped 3.79% to Rs 379. Bharti Airtel has reportedly bid for 51% of South African telecommunications group MTN. According to reports, Bharti had tabled a bid for MTN at 165 rand per share and had secured $12 billion from banks to finance the deal, which would make Bharti a top player in emerging markets telecoms.

India’s largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank rose 0.10% at Rs 934.50.

Top Sensex gainers were, Cipla (up 1.90% at Rs 220.10), ITC (up 1.77% at Rs 224.60), HDFC Bank (up 0.91% at Rs 1543.70), Tata Steel (up 0.77% at Rs 808.15), and Hindalco Industries (up 0.30% at Rs 184).

Top Sensex losers were, Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.80% at Rs 275.75), Reliance Infrastructure (down 3.52% at Rs 1463.90), Maruti Suzuki (down 2.86% at Rs 762), DLF (down 2.42% at Rs 688) and Mahindra & Mahindra (down 2.14% at Rs 663).

The BSE FMCG index was up 1.32% to 2,506.53. United Breweries (up 13.54% at Rs 242), Nestle (up 2.02% at Rs 1,754), United Spirits (up 0.45% at Rs 1,658.05), Tata Tea (up 0.37% at Rs 914.40) and Hindustan Unilever (up 0.34% at Rs 249), spurted.

The BSE IT index was down 1.09% to 4,270.43. Aptech (down 3.76% at Rs 246.70), Financial Technologies (down 2.46% at Rs 1850), Wipro (down 1.86% at Rs 481), Infosys Technologies (down 1.42% at Rs 1762), Satyam Computer (down 1.08% at Rs 482.25), and TCS (down 0.37% at Rs 921.10), slipped.

The BSE Oil & Gas index was up 0.05% to 11,705.43. Cairn India (up 4.18% at Rs 265.50), Essar Oil (up 1.09% at Rs 292.60) and GAIL India (up 0.76% at Rs 446), moved up. However, all the major state-run oil firms declined. HPCL (down 2.21% at Rs 258.70), BPCL (down 0.52% at Rs 399.90) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.27% at Rs 485).

PVC pipes maker Finolex Industries soared 5.89% to Rs 76.35 on repors the firm has decided to sell off its plot at Chinchwad near Pune. It is close to signing a deal with a US-based developer to sell the land for between Rs 350 crore and Rs 400 crore.

Apparels maker Provogue India fell 0.32% to Rs 1225. The firm reportedly plans to complete twelve real estate development projects across India in the next five years. The projects involve setting up malls and shopping centres across tier 2 cities like Aurangabad, Indore, Nagpur and Jaipur and the first project is set for completion by mid next year, the reports added.

Engineering and construction firm Punj Lloyd fell 0.17% to Rs 371.80. The firm is reportedly looking to divest its stake in its telecom and broadband business, Spectranet. Spectranet is an Internet service provider (ISP) that offers a range of services to business customers.

Dairy products maker Anik Industries was locked at upper limit of 5% to Rs 57.75 after posting 76.4% surge in net profit to Rs 8.96 crore on 58.1% increase in total income to Rs 333.27 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007.