Nifty below 5500; IT, oil & gas, metals slip

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Indian equity benchmarks were witnessing selling pressure at 10:46 hours as crude retested last week highs again yesterday. Even profit booking was another reason behind the marginal sell-off today as benchmarks rallied 3.5% on Wednesday, reacted to Budget 2011.

London Brent crude was trading at USD 116.60 a barrel, up USD 0.25 a barrel. There were reports that Libyan fighter jets fired on the oil terminal city of Masra El Brega

The sell-off was triggered by the arrest of a Shi'ite cleric in the Kingdom's Eastern Province after he called for democratic reforms and a constitutional monarchy.

Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional Equities said a spike in global crude prices due to social unrest in West Asia & North Africa has compounded India's macro problems of a large triple deficit and high inflation. "With no clarity on the way and timing of the resolution of the situation in the region, it is difficult to build a strong case for India."

Shares of technology, oil & gas, telecom, metal, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) and infrastructure companies were pulling the markets down. SBI, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank too were down 1.5-2.5%.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 18,308, down 139 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 38 points to 5,485.

However, Asian markets were trading higher as they already factored in crude oil price hike in yesterday's trade, when Indian markets shut for Mahashivratri. Straits Times, Kospi and Taiwan were up 1-1.8%. Shanghai, Hang Seng and Nikkei went up 0.7-1%.

Realty, cement and HDFC group companies' shares were supporting the markets. Tata Power, HUL, PNB, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Cairn, Ranbaxy and Hero Honda were other gainers.

ICICI Bank, Infosys, Sterlite Industries, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, Suzlon Energy, HCL Tech, BPCL and IDFC were the top losers with 1.5-3% fall.

SBI, Lanco Infratech, Camlin, LIC Housing Finance, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries and Infosys were the most active shares on exchanges.

In midcap space, Bajaj Finserv shot up 19% as Bershire Hathway tied up with Bajaj Allianz for general insurance.

Essar Shipping, Deccan Chronicle, Bajaj Corp and Sobha Developer gained 5-10% while Den Networks, SpiceJet, Stride Arcolab, Jet Airways and TVS Motor fell 4-5%.

In smallcap space, Vindhya Telelink surged 20%. KRBL, Camlin, Gati and Can Fin Homes rallied 5-11% whereas Asian Star, Parenteral Drug, Ontrack Systems, Dion Global and Prabhav Industries lost 4-6%.