BackSensex fizzles out as fiscal ends
Sensex fizzles out as fiscal ends
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Closing
Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex fell 727 points on Monday, the last trading session in this fiscal, on fears that the new accounting norms will trim fourth quarter corporate earnings besides weak global cues.
The 30-share index fell 726.85 points or 4.44% at 15,644.44 from previous close of 16,371.29. It had bounced by 1,376 points or 9% in the last week after falling below 15K mark at 14,809.49 on 17 March.
The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also dipped 207.50 points or 4.20% to close at 4,734.50 from its previous level of 4,942.
Market players mainly attributed Monday’s fall to reports that the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has asked companies to disclose and / or provide for all losses on derivative contracts from the current financial year, which led to the fears that fourth quarter earnings of companies may decline.
A week ago, with robust advance tax payments in the last quarter of fiscal, traders were expecting impressive profit growth.
On a global front, Asian and European markets tumbled, tracking weakness in American stocks after retail chain J C Penney warned of slow consumer spending amid lingering worries about credit crisis.
The market was also adversely affected by the rising inflation rate, which stood at 6.68% for the week ended 15 March, way above the RBI’s tolerance level of 5% for the current fiscal.
Heavyweights such as HDFC lost 8.79% to reach Rs1,319.95, ICICI Bank 7.79% at Rs770.10, DLF 7.07% at Rs646.50, ONGC 6.68% at Rs981.35, Infosys Tech 6.30% cent at Rs1,430.15, REL 6.19% at Rs1,251.15 and TCS 6.80% at Rs810.90.
However, among the Sensex stocks M&M rose by Rs4.55 to 695.65 and Cipla by Rs2.20 to 219.75.
The market breadth was positive with 1,364 gainers as against 1,291 losers.
The trading volume was relatively low at 5,941.63 crore compared with Rs6,463.99 crore in the last session. Reliance Cap clocked the highest turnover of Rs324.02 crore, followed by GSS America (Rs289.21 crore), RIL (Rs257.63 crore), Orchid Chem (Rs187.41 crore) and RPL (Rs162.34 crore).
The broad-based BSE-100 index tumbled by 371.56 points or 4.32% to 8,232.82 from its last close of 8,604.38.
Late Afternoon Update
The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex lost 706 points in mid session today on aggressive selling by funds in heavy-weight stocks.
The 30-share index, Sensex, which recorded number of major falls since January this year, dropped by 705.60 points to 15,665.69 at 1430 hours on the last day of this financial year.
The major pull to the market came in from stocks in banking, information technology, realty and capital goods.
Infosys Technologies and other software exporters drove down the key index to its biggest fourth-quarter loss.
Infosys Technologies, the second-largest exporter of software services, declined the most in more than five months on concern that the Reserve Bank might allow the rupee to appreciate to contain inflation.
The gauge of 30 companies, is poised to post its worst performance ever for the fourth quarter, ending today. It might post the steepest fourth-quarter decline in Asia excluding China, market experts said.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index’s Nifty dropped by 195 points to 4,747 with almost all the 50 index-linked stocks trading in losses.
Afternoon Update
The markets continue to trade near the day’s low. The benchmark index Sensex shedding 3.8% or 626 points. It is trading at 15,744 levels. The Nifty is in the red territory by 3.5% or 172 points and is trading at 4,769 levels.
Banking, software and telecom stocks were hardest hit.
Late Morning Update
A weakening trend in global stock markets weighed on the Indian bourses as the benchmark Sensex tumbled by 410 points in late morning deals today after gaining over 350 points last Friday.
The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer opened lower by nearly 145 points and declined further to quote at 15,961.04 at 10.30 am, a steep fall of 410.25 points over last week’s close of 16,371.29.
Similarly, the 50-issue S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange dropped by 120.65 points to 4,821.35 at 10.30 am.
Most of the Asian indices were trading in the red this morning on the back of bearishness in the US markets last weekend on lower consumer spending.
But market participants expected recovery in later part of the day following shoring up the year-end net asset value (NOV) from mutual funds and also anticipated good fourth quarter earnings by most of the key corporates on robust advance tax payments.
According to brokers, the global cues continued to daunt the local bourses despite expectations of good earnings from corporates.
They said that the steep rise in inflation for the second straight week above the tolerance level of the central bank was also the cause of concern.
As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FII’s) were net buyers in cash segment worth Rs401.95 crore on Friday.
Opening
Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex lost 280 points in early trade on Monday on profit selling by funds in heavy-weight stocks, led by banking sector.
The 30-share index, Sensex, which gained 356 points on Friday, tumbled by 280 points to 16,091.02 in the first five minutes of trade.
Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange’s index, Nifty, fell by 78.75 points to 4,863.25.
Stock brokers said reports of weakening trends in global markets mainly dampened the trading sentiments.
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