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| Markets take a breather |
| SI Reporter / Mumbai Sep 08, 2010, 15:36 IST |
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The markets seem to have taken a pause after gaining around 3% in the last two trading sessions. The Sensex ended at 18666, higher by 21 points and the Nifty ended above the 5600 points for the second day in a row at 5607, up three points. The midcap index ended at 7996, higher by 27 points and the midcap index ended at 10216, up 59 points.
The sedate closing masks the volatility below the surface. For the Sensex swung in a range of nearly 200 points between an intra-day high of 18721 and a low of 1850 before ending near the previous day's levels. The markets opened on a nervous note on the back of weakness across Asia and apparent profit-booking post the gains of the previous two sessions. The indices did bounce back into the green in the early part of noon, but attempts at a sustained recovery were sniffed off by the weakness across the European continent.
Asian stocks fell across the board. Nikkei shaved off more than 2% as a rise in the yen to a new 15-year high threatened to erode the overseas earnings of Japan's big exporters. The Hang Seng lost more than 1%, while the Korean and Taiwanese markets lost upto a percent each. European stocks extended last session's weakness, trading lower by around a percent each in mid-day trades, as sovereign-debt concerns return to haunt the markets. Worries about Europe's banks have resurfaced after a Wall Street Journal analysis revealed that Europe's recent stress tests of the strength of major banks understated some lenders' holdings of potentially risky government debt. And trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could open soft later in the day.
ACC topped the gainers charts for the second day on a trot, ending stronger by 2.9% at Rs 991, on the BSE. Bharti Airtel strengthened by 2.5% at Rs 352 and SBI added 2% at Rs 2894. Hindustan Unilever, Sterlite and RCom were the other significant gainers.
In the midcap space, Britannia strengthened by 13.8% at Rs 482, Zuari gained 9.4% at Rs 804 and Monsanto was up 8.5% at Rs 2203. Gammon Infra, Core Projects and IDBI Bank added between 5% and 6% each. And the smallcap space saw the likes of Heritage Foods being locked at the upper circuit of 20% at Rs 223, Nirkamal soaring by 17% at Rs 398 and Bartronics zooming by 16% at Rs 118.
Among the losers, RInfra weakened by 1.7% at Rs 1023 and ITC shed 1.2% at Rs 163. Private sector banking biggies also had a forgettable day, with ICICI Bank shedding 1% at Rs 1025 and HDFC Bank losing 0.6% at Rs 2182. And RIL edged lower by 0.1% at Rs 960.
The market breadth was positive. Out of 3066 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1600 advancing stocks as against 1348 declines.
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