Staff Reporter | 08 May, 2008
It was a lacklustre day for the markets, volumes were low. Technology, private banks, FMCG and capital goods stocks were biggest culprits, dragged the Sensex and Nifty lower by more than 1%.

The Sensex still held above 17000 mark and the Nifty above 5000. Market breadth remained negative, nearly 1:2. Midcap and small cap stocks also closed in the red.

On the global front, Asian markets finished lower barring Shanghai. European markets were trading lower; Nymex Crude was trading USD 123.67 per barrel at the time of writing closing market report.

The Sensex touched an intraday high 17,212.61 and low of 17,038.03, before closing the day at 17,080.65, down by 1.49% or 258.66 points. The Nifty Fifty ended at 5081.70, down 1.05% or 53.8 points which hit high/low of 5143.05 and 5062.45, respectively.

The CNX Midcap fell 0.94% at 6959.15. The BSE Midcap and Small Cap indices ended at 7,153.43 and 8,689.04, fell by 0.67% and 0.44%, respectively.

Market breadth was in negative, about 1211 shares have advanced, 1698 shares declined, and 177 shares remained unchanged.

Major losers were ITC, Satyam, L&T and, Infosys while gainers - Tata Comm, Tata Steel, Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel, and ACC.

Banking stocks were draggers especially private banks. The BSE Bankex lost 2.9% or 261 points at 8,755.48 as selling pressure seen in Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Axis Bank, Union Bank, Yes Bank and ICICI Bank.

Technology stocks like Mphasis, Satyam, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Tech Mahindra have crashed despite rupee depreciation, which hit 41.79/$. Major reason was the first quarter numbers from Cognizant, which given the Q2 guidance below market expectations. Market expected 8-9% while the company guided only 5.7%. The BSE IT Index fell 2.69% or 119 points at 4,294.46.

FMCG stocks including ITC, United Breweries, P and G, Dabur India, Marico and Bata India also crushed under selling pressure. The BSE FMCG Index was down 2.6% to close at 2,445.12.

The BSE Capital Goods Index finished at 13,375.19, down 1.95% as selling pressure seen in Jyoti Structure, Rel Ind Infra, Kirloskar Bros, Gammon India, Larsen, Kirloskar Oil and BHEL.

Power stocks haven't charged up, BSE Power Index lost 0.93% at 3,264.00. Power stocks like Reliance Petro, Power Grid Corp, Crompton Greaves, Tata Power, Suzlon Energy, CESC and NTPC closed in red.

Realty stocks like Mahindra Life, Anant Raj Ind, Ansal Properties, Unitech, DLF and Omaxe collapsed, which pulled the BSE Realty Index down by 0.94% to close at 8,130.70.

The BSE Oil & Gas Index fell 0.81% at 11,628.45 due to selling in RNRL, GAIL, Petronet LNG, IOC, ONGC, Essar Oil and Reliance.

Pharma stocks like Panacea Biotech, Glenmark, Ipca Labs, Apollo Hospital, Opto Circuits and Cipla also lost the sheen. The BSE Healthcare Index dropped 0.40% to settle at 4,221.29.
 
The BSE Auto Index slid 0.42% at 4,766.96 as auto stocks like Punj Tractors, Ashok Leyland, Escorts, Hind Motors, TVS Motor, Tata Motors, Hero Honda and Maruti Suzuki slipped.

Reliance Industries, Reliance Power, Reliance Capital, Aishwarya Telecom, Bharti Airtel and Cairn India were most active counters.

Total market turnover for the day stood at Rs 47583.62 crore including Rs 12692.39 crore NSE cash, Rs 28943.79 crore from NSE F&O and the balance Rs 5947.44 crore from BSE cash.