Mkts crash land, Nifty below 3000

Mumbai: The markets closed deep in red on account of sustained selling pressure in scrips across sectors.

The Sensex closed with a hefty loss of over 320 points. The Nifty was down over 100 points.

The BSE Sensex closed at 10,071.42 down 3.15 per cent or 327 points. The Nifty closed at 2962 down 108 points.

The BSE Midcap was down 2.8 per cent at 4,911.18 while the BSE Small-cap was down 3.49 per cent at 6,142.37.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative, about 404 shares advanced, 1,968 shares declined, and 42 shares were unchanged.

Heavy selling was witnessed in scrips across sectors. All the BSE indices were trading in red by the closing of the trading session.

The metal and auto index witnessed the highest fall followed by FMCG, oil & gas and capital goods.

Among the laggards were Hero Honda, Maruti Udyog, Tata Motors, Hindalco, Reliance Energy and BPCL.

• The metal index lost 5.61 per cent to close at 8,183.47.Metal stocks treaded on global cues, Hind Zinc, Hindalco, Jindal Steel, Sterlite Ind and Tata Steel closed in red.
• The auto index lost 4.8 per cent and closed at 4,581.13 while stocks like Hero Honda, Maruti Udyog, Cummins, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Hind Motors witnessed heavy selling pressure.
• The FMCG index closed with a loss of 3.43 per cent at 1,824.79. Stocks like Dabur India, Tata Tea, HLL, McDowell and Nirma tumbled.
• The oil & gas index was down 3.45 per cent at 4,909.85. Stocks like BPCL, Kochi Refinery, GAIL, HPCL and MRPL closed low.
• The capital goods index sank 3.36 per cent to close at 7,096.29. Carborundum, Bharat Elecronics, L&T, HEG, BEML and Lakshmi Machine plunged.
• The IT index was down 2.97 per cent and closed at 3,534.64. Stocks like HCL Info, Moser Baer, Satyam, TCS, and Patni Computer plunged.
• The health care index lost 2.68 per cent to close at 3,297.29. Stocks like Divis Labs, GlaxoSmithKline, Wyeth, FDC and Orchid Chemical witnessed selling pressure.
• The consumer durables index went down by 2.59 per cent to close at 2,973.31. Stocks like Titan Industries, Su-Raj Diamonds, Whirlpool and Samtel Color sank.

PAGE_BREAK

• The BSE Bankex slipped 0.84 per cent to close at 4,729.81. Kotak Mahindra, Oriental Bank, PNB, IOB and Allahabad Bank dragged.
• The NSE cash turnover was at Rs 7907.88 crore at the closing while the NSE F&O turnover stood at Rs 27877 crore.
• The BSE cash turnover was Rs 268.14 crore. The total market turnover was Rs 39053.02 crore.
• Cement prices were marginally down; wholesale prices remained below Rs 200 per bag.

The Sensex remained on a roller-coaster ride since the opening, recorded a steep fall of 356.39 points at 10,042.22 just a few minutes before the end of trading.

In likewise manner, the National Stock Exchange index (Nifty) slided by 130 points.

All the 30 Sensex and 50 Nifty stocks were in red by the close of the trading session.

The benchmark sensex fell back on the BSE at midday on emergence of profit booking by retail investors and funds.

Sensex plunged after shares like Larsen and Toubro lost Rs 111 at Rs 2,207, Bajaj Auto by Rs 117 at Rs 2,630, Maruti Udyog by Rs 36.40 at Rs 698, ACC by Rs 19 at Rs 743, Reliance Industries by Rs 28 at Rs 925 and Infosys Tech by Rs 46 at Rs 2,862.

The markets witnessed wiping-off early gains as funds and retail investors started booking profits with every rise.

Stockbrokers said retail investors and major players were seen selling at every rise in the market to minimize losses.

The major losers were Reliance Industries, Tata Power, Tata Consultancy, ACC, Larsen and Toubro, Hindustan Lever, Infosys, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Cipla, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Satyam Computers.

Stockbrokers said profit taking in heavy-weighted stocks such as Reliance Industries, Tata Power, TCS, ACC, L&T, Hindustan Lever, Infosys, Ranbaxy and Cipla had wiped-off the initial gains.

Technical analyst, Salil Sharma said that people, who are into markets for more than a year, should start picking up stocks in small quantities.

Investors should be prepared for further fall and be ready with cash to pick up even at the lower levels, he added.