BackSensex falls from 2-1/2 months high in late sell-off
Sensex fell 75.07 points to 27,945.80, on late sell-off in metal and IT stocks as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines amid uncertainty over Greece
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Mumbai: After two days of rise, the benchmark BSE Sensex on Thursday slipped from its 2-1/2 months high by falling 75 points to 27,945.80 on late sell-off in metal and IT stocks as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines amid uncertainty over Greece situation.
Despite a strong start against the backdrop of firm Asian cues, market turned highly volatile during the last hour and succumbed to profit-booking as investors turned cautious.
“Markets remained lacklustre as investors preferred to stay sidelines ahead of Greece outcome. Tough RBI (Reserve Bank of India) governor statement—India’s exposure to the Greece is limited—tried to cheer the Street but indices shed the gains in last leg of trade," said Gaurav Jain, director at Hem Securities.
In early trade, the 30-share index rose to a day’s high of 28,115.96 points on the back of a stronger global market on hopes of a Greece deal and buying by foreign investors. However, on across-the-board selling towards the close, the Sensex slipped into negative zone and closed the session 75.07 points, or 0.27%, down at 27,945.80 points, slipping from its two-and-a-half-month high. The gauge had gained 376 points in previous two sessions.
The 50-share NSE Nifty fell by 8.15 points, or 0.10%, to 8,444.90. It shuttled between 8,479.25 and 8,433.20 during the session.
“We saw a mild pause to the out performance of the Indian market, especially to front stocks and indexes. But the undercurrent continues to be strong with a rally in the mid-caps," said Vinod Nair, head of fundamental research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
Stocks related to irrigation segment such as Finolex Industries Ltd, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd, Shakti Pumps India Ltd, Kaveri Seed Co. Ltd, Monsanto India Ltd, Dhanuka Agritech Ltd and Advanta Ltd surged up to 8% after the government decided to spend ₹ 50,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna.
Tata Motors fell the most among Sensex stocks by dropping 1.84% despite the firm reported a 6% increase in total sales in June, followed by Hindalco Industries Ltd at 1.72%.
Stocks of software exporters also faced selling after revenue warnings by some IT firms and euro zone worries led to concern about June-quarter results.
From Asia, barring China, most equities ended higher tracking strong finish on Wall Street overnight. Key indices from Germany, France and the UK were up between 1.34% and 1.87% in early trade.
Meanwhile, the global rating agency Fitch lowered India’s economic growth projections to 7.8% for the fiscal from 8%earlier. Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO said: “...not much action was seen in the local equity market as the unsolved Greek debt issue continues to dent the movement of indices and traded flat and looked to consolidated ahead of the major US economic data due for the day."
Out of 30-share Sensex pack, 20 finished lower. Major losers were Tata Motors (1.84%), Hindalco (1.72%), HDFC Bank Ltd (1.33%), Vedanta (1.08%), ONGC (1.07%), Cipla Ltd (1.06%), Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd (1%), Infosys Ltd (0.96%), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (0.89%), GAIL India Ltd (0.79%) and HDFC (0.73%).
Among the gainers included Bharti Airtel (2.13%), Mahindra and Mahindra (2%), Bajaj Auto (1.67%) Axis Bank (0.62%) Hero MotoCorp (0.56%) and Wipro (0.53%).
Sectorally, the BSE metal index fell the most by plunging 0.62%, followed by IT (0.41%), healthcare (0.40%), realty (0.19%) and capital goods (0.13%).
The market breadth remained positive trend as 1,519 stocks advanced, 1,251 shares declined and 116 ruled steady. Total turnover dropped to ₹ 2,710.70 crore from ₹ 3,226.25 crore on Wednesday.
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