Market slides as RIL retreats

Decline in index heavyweight Reliance Industries dragged the market
lower in afternoon trade. The BSE 30-share Sensex was down 26.46
points. Power and capital goods stocks declined. Mid-cap and
small-cap shares were in demand.

Europen markets, which opened after Indian market, were mixed in
early trade. key indices in UK, and France were down 0.41% to
0.47%. Germany's DAX index was up 0.06%.

At 13:20 IST, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 26.46 points or
0.19% to 14,015.86. The Sensex rose 178.72 points at day's high of
14,221.04, hit in early trade. The index shed 70.43 points at the
day's low of 13,971.89, hit in afternoon trade.

The S&P CNX Nifty was down 18.95 points or 0.45% to 4226.30.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.16% at 5,237.03 and the BSE
Small-Cap index was up 0.18% at 6,227.41.

The market breadth was positive on BSE with 1272 shares advancing
as compared to 1160 that declined. 78 shares remained unchanged.

India's largest private sector firm by market capitalisation and
oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 0.30% at Rs 2045.70.
The stock accounts for 15.09% of Sensex's weightage.

The company began production of crude oil from its KG-D6 block of
the Krishna Godavari basin on 17 September 2008 and the firm plans
to commercially release gas from the well by January 2009. The
company aims to supply at least 40% of the nation's requirement of
oil and gas and become one of the world's largest deep-water
developers. According to reports, the company can technically sell
its Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin gas at a price higher than the
government-discovered price of $4.20 per million British thermal
units (mBtu).

World's sixth largest steel maker Tata Steel rose 3.62% at 496.95.
As per reports, Tata Steel, through its indirect subsidiary TS
Global Minerals Holdings, has purchased a 7.3% stake in Riversdale,
which has a coking coal project in Mozambique.

India's largest state-run oil explorer Oil & Natural Gas
Corporation (ONGC) dropped 1.85% to Rs 1052.25. As per reports,
ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas investment arm of ONGC, may take a
$1 billion short-term loan to partly fund the $2.8 billion
acquisition of London Stock Exchange-listed Imperial Energy.

India's largest aluminium producer Hindalco Industries fell 1.42%
at 111.25. The company's Rs 5050 crore rights share offering opened
for subscription today, 22 September 2008. The sale in a ratio of
three shares for every seven held at Rs 96 a share will close on 10
October 2008. The company aims to use the funds to repay a bridge
loan it had taken to buy Canada's Novelis in 2007.

India's second largest software exporter by sales Infosys
Technologies fell 0.50% at 1615.65.

India's largest private sector bank by market capitalisation ICICI
Bank was unchanged at Rs 628.45.

Power shares declined. GVK Power & Infrastructure (down 2.51% at Rs
31.10), Power Grid Corporation (down 1.80% at Rs 92.65), NTPC (down
1.75% at Rs 179.70), Tata Power Company (down 1.20% at Rs 1,015),
and Reliance Infrastructure (down 0.33% at Rs 889.50), slipped. The
BSE Power index declined 1% at 2,504.53.

Capital goods witnessed selling pressure. Suzlon Energy (down 4.41%
at Rs 203.75), Siemens (down 3.51% at Rs 488.75), Punj Lloyd (down
2.06% at Rs 305), Larsen & Toubro (down 1.90% at Rs 2,595), and
Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 1.79% at Rs 1,680), declined. The
BSE Capital Goods index lost 0.86% at 11,638.90.

Asian stocks rose after the US government proposed a $700 billion
plan to solve the world financial crisis by rescuing banks from
billions of dollars in risky mortgage debt. Key benchmark indices
in Hong Kong, Japan, China, South Korea, and Taiwan were up by
between 0.31% to 7.77%. However, Singapore's Straits Times was down
0.75%.