RTTN: Indian market ends deep in the red on FII selling
Wednesday, the Indian market plunged after bank shares tumbled in the U.S. and Europe amid concern that the global recession is deepening. Weak global cues and apprehensions over the third quarter results weighed on sentiment. Additionally, a failure by US President Obama to shed further light on the much-awaited stimulus package during his inaugural address also impacted sentiment.
Renewed selling by foreign funds, a weak rupee and reports that the government will not announce any more stimulus package to the industry this fiscal also weighed on the market. Traders await earnings announcement from Reliance Industries due on Thursday.
''The planning commission thinks whatever has been done is sufficient. The commission has not proposed another stimulus package for this financial year," Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, planning commission said. Enough had been done for industry, he said.
He also set at rest speculation about the possibility of tax cuts to boost growth. "Taxes will not be altered between now and the next budget," he said.
Stocks across the sectors tumbled, while select FMCG stocks such as Hindustan Unilever and ITC advanced on defensive buying. Metal, banking, power, oil/gas and realty stocks bore the brunt of the selling.
The BSE Sensex opened lower at 8,901 and plunged to the day's low of 8,735 in the afternoon before recouping some of its losses to finish at 8,779, down 321 points or 3.53% over the previous close. Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty at 2,706, ended down 90 points or 3.23%.
On the BSE, the market breadth was extremely negative, with 1669 decliners compared to 720 gainers. The broad-based BSE 500 index tumbled nearly 3.0% and the mid-cap and the small-cap indexes slipped around 2.0% each.
Sterlite Industries plunged 7.97%, HDFC tumbled 7.49%, Tata Power slumped 7.32% and ICICI Bank plummeted 7.12%.
Grasim Industries, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Ranbaxy, DLF, Tata Motors, Reliance Communication, Wipro, BHEL, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel and NTPC were the other prominent losers.
Stocks in News
IT stocks fell after Wipro forecast a gloomy revenue outlook for the March quarter.
Neyveli Lignite tumbled 9.36% despite reports that the company will improve its profit due to a higher pre-tax return on equity announced by the central electricity regulatory commission on Tuesday.
Maytas Infra extended losses for the 10th consecutive day and closed at the 5.0% lower circuit limit. Satyam Computer rose 3.35% on reports that two leading companies, namely Essar and L&T have evinced interest in buying whole or part of the crisis-hit IT firm.
