Sensex ends 247 points lower on institutional selling

The NSE benchmark Nifty fell over a 1% led by panic selling in the last one hour of trade. Major sectors like oil & gas, technology, financial and infrastructure also faced selling pressure. Defensive sectors like FMCG and healthcare too followed the same trend.

It seemed that foreign institutional investors could possibly pare their exposure in some stocks. Heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ITC, NTPC, ONGC, TCS and BHEL were knocked down in the late trade. The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 247.37 points, to close at 17,693.18 and the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 73 points, to end at 5,331.80. Shashank Khade, Executive Vice President and Head - Portfolio Management Services (PMS) at Kotak Securities feels that the market may remain rattled till the time we actually see such actions being taken by the US. "Till that time one would not really see some steady state in our markets as well," he says. Khade explains that August 9 is going to be an important date to really understand in terms of what action the Fed will take from hereon. "It is very clear that US is actually slowing down materially and there has to be some action from the Fed to suite the nerves to some extent," he explains. He elaborates that the US data is also important for India as well. "Because if there is in some format quantitative easing part III, clearly that will impact the commodity complex and hence our inflationary expectations," he adds. Selling pressure was seen in other global markets too. Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures were down nearly 1%. Even European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE dropped close 1%. Asian markets, which were flat to positive, also dipped in the late trade - Kospi was down over 2% and Taiwan down 1.65%. Kospi and Hang Seng slipped 0.5-0.75%. Nikkei dropped from day's high as well, ended marginally higher. Meanwhile on home grounds, all sectoral indices closed in the red. The BSE Auto and Realty indices tumbled 2% each. FMCG, Metal, Power, Healthcare, Bank and IT indices were down 1-1.8%. ITC got butchered badly on reports that the government may be considering 20-30% hike in excise for tobacco products. The stock slipped over 3%. Even auto (especially four-wheeler) stocks dropped after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in its monsoon parliament session, said government can look at taxing diesel passenger vehicles. M&M lost 4%. Tata Motors and Maruti fell 1-1.5%. Defensive sector - healthcare too was under pressure. Ranbaxy Labs plunged 4%. Cipla, Dr Reddy's Labs and Sun Pharma were down 2-3%. Heavyweight Reliance Industries has hit new 52-week low of Rs 810.25 on the BSE. The stock lost 1.5%. Among others, NTPC, ONGC, BHEL, Wipro, SBI, Infosys and ICICI Bank declined 1-2%. However, BPCL gained 3.4%. GAIL, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Communications went up 0.5-0.9%. Market breadth was weak, about two shares declined for every one share gained. The broader indices fell over 0.5%. _PAGEBREAK_ Sensex nosedives; ITC, RIL, ONGC, NTPC under pressure The benchmark Sensex shed more than 200 points in late trade on the back of sell-off in heavyweights like ITC, NTPC, TCS, Reliance Industries, ONGC and Bharti Airtel. These stocks were down between 1% and 3%. Institutional selling could possibly pulling the market down. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 17,717, down 223 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 66 points to 5,338. ITC was the lead dragger, falling over 3%. There were reports that the finance ministry may be considering 20-30% hike in excise duties for tobacco products. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in the monsoon parliament session, said the government could look at taxing diesel passenger vehicles. He further said they would consider looking at diesel dual pricing once proposed. M&M plunged 4% and Tata Motors fell 1.7%. Even the market breadth deteriorated further; about 492 shares advanced as against 802 declining shares on National Stock Exchange. Midcaps like Cox & Kings, Jindal PolyFilm, M&M Financial, eClerx Services and Hindustan National Glass gained 3-7%. However, Gujarat NRE Coke, Anant Raj Inds, Supreme Inds, HDIL and Gujarat Flourochem lost 4-9%. Sensex sheds over 100 pts; oil & gas, capital goods fall The BSE benchmark Sensex shed more than 100 points led by fall in oil & gas, financial, metal, auto and select financial companies' shares. ITC and NTPC were leading draggers on the Nifty, falling 2-3% each. Both benchmarks were below their key psychological levels