Sensex, Nifty end in red for 3rd straight day; ONGC up

Moneycontrol Bureau

After a volatile trading day, the market closed on a negative note. The Nifty struggled a lot to stay above the crucial 5550 mark and ended just at 5553.25, down 21.50 points. The Sensex fell 86.41 points to close at 18423.2.

Midcaps clawed back today while oil and gas stocks added strength to the indices. ONGC (up 2.2 percent), Reliance (up 1.8 percent), BPCL (up 1.5 percent) were major gainers among the oil and gas stocks.

Adding 7.2 percent, Maruti remained the star of the day as broking firms re-rated the stock on lower royalty payments and import cost, denominated in yen. The Japanese currency hit 3-1/2 year low.

Sugar stocks were excited in trade after the cabinet decided to do away with the regulated release mechanism and the obligation of levy on sugar mills. Balrampur Chini gained 3.2 percent while Shree Renuka was up 2.4 percent.

Meanwhile, on the losing side were HDFC, ITC, NTPC, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank. ITC was down 2.8 percent at the end of the day as dealers said the company has hiked select cigarette brands' prices by Rs 20 for a pack of 20.

Adani Power cracked 3.7 percent as reports suggested that the Haryana govt has decided to challenge CERC's order on Adani Power. Adani Power had asked for a tariff hike of around Re 1 a unit, which pushes up the cost of power for Haryana discom to around Rs 4 per unit.