Falling crude turns good news bears for ONGC, BPCL

Despite the sharp fall, the benchmark Nifty resisted the intensity with which the US markets fell overnight. With 48 shares on the decline, the 50-share NSE Nifty crashed 120 points to 4,998 and the 30-share BSE Sensex lost 391 points to trade at 16,598.

Indian rupee crossed the 45 per US dollar mark, which indicates that foreign institutional investors may be offloading their exposure; rupee was trading at 45.4/USD.

All sectoral indices were in the red. The BSE IT, Metal, Realty, Healthcare, Power, Capital Goods, Bank and Auto indices tumbled 2-3.5%.

However, only ONGC and BPCL were on buyers' radar due to fall in crude oil prices.

About 16 shares were falling for every one share rising on the National Stock Exchange.

At 9:18 hours IST: S&P ghost continues to hound, Nifty below 5K since June '10

Indian equity benchmarks got butchered once again as investors feared a worldwide sell-off on talks that S&P may downgrade other countries and companies post US downgrade.

The 50-share NSE Nifty slipped below the 5000 mark for the first time since June 2010. It was down 126 points at 4993 and the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 417 points at 16,570.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group companies' shares took huge beating. Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Communications fell 4-6%.

Technology stocks hit hard as major revenues come from US and Europe. TCS and Infosys lost 4-5%.

Among largecaps, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Sterlite, DLF, ICICI Bank, Sesa Goa, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Tata Motors were down 3-5%.

Defensives like ITC and HUL were down over 1%. SBI and PNB too declined over just 1%.

However, oil marketing companies' shares like BPCL, HPCL and IOC gained 1% on fall in crude oil prices.

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Global cues

Asian markets were trading sharply lower though they recovered a bit from day's low. Hang Seng tumbled 6.5% and Kospi fell 8.6%. Nikkei was down 4.4% and Taiwan down 3.4%. Shanghai lost 1.2%.

The US equity markets witnessed worst slump since 2008 bear market on Monday on fears that S&P downgrade may hit other countries and companies.

S&P also lowered Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Bank's debt to AA-plus from AAA.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 635 points or 5.5% at 10,809. NASDAQ Composite slid 175 points or 6.9% at 2,357 and S&P 500 Index fell 80 points or 6.6% at 1,119.

FOMC will be meeting today.

Commodities

December gold contract finished up 3.7% at USD 1713.5/ounce on Monday - hit all-time highs at USD 1723.40 during the day.

September silver contract was up 3% to USD 39.37/ounce

September crude oil contract went down 6.4% at USD 81.31/barrel, lowest levels since November 22.

September natural gas contract ended flat at USD 3.94 per MMBtu

F&O cues:

Total Stock Futures Open Int add 17.04 lk shares

Nifty Futures Open Int add 5.39 lk shares

Premium at 7.7 vs premium at 0.1

Nifty Open Int PCR at 0.96 vs 0.93

Total Put adds 18.13 lakh shares

Total Call add 37.52 lakh shares

Open Int Outstanding

At 5500 Call, 5000 Put and 5600 Call

Nifty 4700 Put adds 24.05 lk shrs in Open Int

Nifty 5100 Call adds 11.68 lk shrs in Open Int

Nifty 5000 Put adds 7.87 lk shrs in Open Int

Nifty 4800 Put adds 7.14 lk shrs in Open Int

Nifty 5200 Call adds 6.99 lk shrs in Open Int

Nifty 5400 Put sheds 6.94 lk shrs in Open Int

Nifty 5200 Put sheds 6.63 lk shrs in Open Int

Nifty 5600 Call sheds 6.38 lk shrs in Open Int

Nifty 5800 Call sheds 3.71 lk shrs in Open Int

Nifty 5300 Put sheds 3.70 lk shrs in Open Int

India VIX up 15.58% at 28.78