It was another edgy session for the markets; bears again took a charge over bulls. But it is not bad session as it was around 2 pm. Selling in technology, banking, realty, FMCG, metal and some oil stocks, has put pressure on the markets. Weakness in Asian and European markets also fueled some negative sentiments across the board.

In the morning session, it had tried to pull back to some extent but as the day progressed, it has started slipping further and broken yesterday's intraday lows as well on the back of selling in Asian and European markets. The Nifty has broken 4400 mark and slipped over 130 points. The Sensex has touched 2008 low of 14,645.31 and breached August 2007 low of 14677 in an intraday trade. It had plunged over 420 points in the afternoon session.

But in the last half an hour of trade, markets have shown smart pullback though ended lower. The Nifty has recovered nearly 80 points and the Sensex 243 points from day's low.

The Sensex closed at 14,889.25, down 176.85 points or 1.17%. The Nifty has hit a new 2008 low of 4369.80 in an intraday trade before closing the day at 4449.80, down 1.14% or 51.15 points. Today's Nifty closing is its new closing for 2008.

BSE Bankex, Realty, Auto, Capital Goods, Small Cap and Nifty Junior slipped below August 2007 lows in an intraday trade.

Turnover traded by the markets stood at Rs 72981.82 crore. This includes Rs 13788.37 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 53893.3 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 5300.15 crore from NSE F&O segment.

BSE Midcap and Small cap indices also recovered smartly from day's low and ended at 6,103.83 and 7,341.16, down over 1% each. Amongst midcap stocks, Essar Shipping, ABG Shipyard, Great Offshore, Ashapura Mine, GE Shipping, Gammon India, Akruti City, Rajesh Exports, Phoenix Mills, Ruchi Soya, Ansal Properties, HCC, Federal Bank and Brigade Enterp slipped over 5%. Small cap stocks like Unity Infraprojects, Indus Fila, Phillips Carbon, Hinduja Venture, Arihant Found, Ashiana Housing, Kemrock Indus and Nucleus Software were down over 7%.

Among biggest losers, HDFC was down 4.79%, ONGC 4.74%, HDFC Bank 4.46%, HCL Tech 4.34% and TCS 3.89% while among gainers, Ranbaxy Labs jumped by 6.53%, Cipla 2.13%, Suzlon Energy 2.9%, SAIL 2.47% and Reliance Industries 1.68%.

Market breadth has improved a lot in late trade. About 1082 shares have advanced while 1865 shares declined. 170 shares remained unchanged.

Technology stocks have beaten hard today. Tech Mahindra, Mphasis, TCS, HCL Tech, Infosys and Satyam were down around 2-7%. BSE IT Index fell 121.02 points or 2.75% to settle at 4,283.96.

Banking stocks witnessed heavy selling pressure on the rumours that RBI might consider CRR hike to curb rising inflation, which is likely to touch double digits mark in near term. Banking losers were Canara Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, IOB, Yes Bank, Andhra Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC and BOB. BSE Bankex plunged 2.43% or 170.99 points to close at 6,862.33. 

Underperformance in realty stocks is unstoppable; Index cracked 121.61 points or 2.11% to settle at 5,630.61. It has hit an intraday low of 5,513.67. Akruti City, Phoenix Mills, Ansal Properties, Puravankara Proj, Anant Raj Ind, HDIL, Omaxe and Unitech were among major losers.

Telecom space was also under bear’s control. Tata Communication, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communication, MTNL and Bharti Airtel were losing counters in the telecom space.

FMCG Index tumbled 1.58% at 2,276.59, due to selling in United Spirits, GSK Consumer, ITC, Tata Tea, Marico and Nestle.

Metal stocks also lost shine. These include Sterlite Ind, NALCO, Jindal Steel, Jindal Saw, Hind Zinc and Tata Steel. Index fell 123.69 points or 0.8% at 15,265.92.

BSE Power Index went down by 0.47% to close at 2,606.96 as weakness seen in GVK Power, Reliance Infra, Reliance Power, CESC, Torrent Power and NTPC.

Pharma stocks have continued their outperformance. Healthcare is the only index that remained on buyers' radar through the day, jumped by 2.16% at 4,411.91. Ranbaxy Labs is the real hero today, shot up over 6.5% on the rumours that the company is scouting for tie up in overseas markets. Other pharma gainers were Cadila Health, Divis Labs, Aurobindo Pharma, Novartis India, Glenmark and Cipla.

Oil & Gas Index ended flat. BPCL, HPCL, Reliance Industries and IOC were among gainers while ONGC, RNRL, Cairn India, Petronet LNG, Essar Oil and GAIL losers. Nymex Crude slipped below USD 135 a barrel.

Most active counters on the bourses were Reliance Ind, Reliance Capital, Ranbaxy Labs and Reliance Petroleum.

On the global front, Asian markets took huge beating today after rumours that China hiked reserve ratio by 100 bps to 17.5% to curb inflation. Shanghai fell 7.7%, Hang Seng 4.2%, Nikkei 1.13% and Taiwan 2.5%. European markets also started on a weak note and were trading lower at the time of writing market report. FTSE 100 was down 0.3%, CAC 40 and DAX 0.8% each.

Markets Snapshot

• Markets recover from day's low; Nifty slipped below 4,400 during the day
• Sensex ends down 177 pts at 14889; recover nearly 250 pts from day's low
• Nifty ends down 51 pts at 4450; recovers nearly 80 pts from day's low
• BSE Small-cap Index slips below Aug 2007 low during the day
• CNX Midcap Index down 0.85%, BSE Small-cap Index down 1%
• Index losers; ONGC down 5.7%, HDFC down 4.6%, Sterlite down 4.1%, Nalco down 4%
• BSE IT Index down 2.7%, TCS down 3.8%, Satyam down 3%
• BSE Bank Index down 2.4%; HDFC Bank down 4.3%, ICICI bank down 2.6%, SBI down 1.2%
• BSE Healthcare Index up 2.16%; Ranbaxy up 6.5%, Cipla up 2%
• Non-Index losers; GMR Infra, Lanco Infra down 5.7%, GHCL down 7.3%, Canara Bank, Tech Mah down 7%, ABG Shipyard, Great Offshore down 6.5%
• Buzzers: Bosch Chasis up 20%, Piramal Life Sciences up 19%, Spice up 14%
• Re-listing: RPG life closes at Rs 44.9 Vs re-listing price of Rs 49.80
• NSE Advance Decline ratio at 1:2
• Total market turnover at Rs 72982 cr Vs Rs 76668 cr in yesterday's trade
• FNO turnover at Rs 53893 cr Vs Rs 58333 cr in yesterday's trade

Recovery from day's low

F&O Snapshot

• Nifty futures prem at 3 pts Vs discount of 25-30 pts during the day
• Short covering seen in last half an hour which leads Nifty discount into premium
• Fresh longs continue in Ranbaxy, Fertiliser stocks, SAIL, RIL, IDFC, IFCI, Suzlon witness fresh longs
• Fresh shorts seen in ONGC, ITC, Punj Lloyd, HDIL, Sterlite Ind
• Short covering seen in Neyveli Lignite, Praj Ind, Dena Bank
• Options Data
  4200 put remain pivot point; add 15.3 lakh shares in OI
  4300 put add 7.1 lakh shares in OI
  4400 call add 5.5 lakh shares in OI
  4500 put shed 6.8 lakh shares in OI

Asia Today

• Asian markets slide led by sharp flows in China, Hang Seng
• Shanghai composite down 7.7%, biggest drop since June 2007
• China hiked reserve ratio by 100 bps to 17.5% on the weekend; this is 5th hike this year ((To release May's CPI data on Thursday))
• Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 7%
• Hang Seng down 4%, Sinopec down 6%
• Kospi down 2%; LG Electronics down 2%, Samsung down 3%
• Australian down 2.8%; biggest one-day fall in almost three months; Macquarie Group down 7.5%
• China, Hang Seng slide as both the markets were closed yesterday

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