Sensex snaps 4-day winning streak; HDFC plunges 5%

Indian shares snapped four-day winning streak Friday owing to profit booking after the indices crossed 19000 (on Sensex) and 5800 (on Nifty) levels yesterday. The BSE Sensex, which rallied 479 points in previous four sessions, fell 139.64 points to close at 18,918.51, weighed down by banking & financials, telecom, technology and healthcare stocks. The index had gained 79 points in early trade following Cabinet’s approval to 49% FDI in insurance and pension.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty, which plunged 899 points intraday due to freak trade by a brokerage house , declined 40.65 points to end at 5,746.95. The index touched a low of 4,888.20 today due to faulty order punched by a dealer of Emkay Shares and Stock Brokers while the BSE Sensex fell more than 300 points. The trading was halted by the NSE for 15 minutes between 9:50 am to 10:05 am.

"The market circuit filter got triggered due to entry of 59 erroneous orders which resulted in multiple trades for an aggregate value of over Rs 650 crore. These orders have been entered by a trading member Emkay Global Financial Services on behalf of an institutional client," the NSE said in a clarification note. Shares of Emkay Global Financial Services locked at 10% lower circuit.

The Exchange said the member has been disabled from trading.

In late trade, the market pared losses following upmove in European markets. France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were up 0.5-0.8 percent after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank was ready to begin its bond buying programme.

Back home, the Indian rupee, which rose as much as 37 paise in morning trade, retreated completely in second half of trade. At 15:31 hours IST, the rupee was down by 12 paise to 51.86 against the US dollar.

Housing finance company HDFC lost 4.89 percent after Carlyle sold its entire stake in the company via multiple block deals.

Country's largest private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were down around 1.5 percent.

Software services exporter Infosys, which will announce its second quarter earnings next Friday, declined 1.84 percent. Its rivals TCS and Wipro went down 0.86 percent and 2.41 percent, respectively.

Commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors rallied over 2 percent while FMCG major Hindustan Unilever gained 1.6 percent.

Private oil & gas producer Reliance Industries rose 0.55 percent and engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro went up 0.8 percent.

Overall the week was good for the market that gained 0.8 percent on hopes of more reforms by the Government and consistent inflow of foreign money. Yesterday the Cabinet has allowed foreign investors to invest upto 49% in insurance and pension. But today the market seemed to have already priced in these reforms.

Market experts remain positive on the market. Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS believes that the sentiment is going to remain very positive unless something adverse happens like the failure of Parliament to pass these bills.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 0.8-0.9 percent as declining shares outnumbered advancing by a ratio of 1792 to 1035 on the BSE.

In the second line shares, IVRCL lost 6 percent as Zee group sold part stake in the company.

Indiabulls Real rose 5.5 percent and DB Realty gained 7.7 percent.

Essar Oil and Inox Leisure rallied quite sharply in late trade, rising 15.5 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.

Education stocks outperformed with Everonn Education and Educomp gaining 7-8- percent.