A volatile, listless run

STOCKS REPORT

The market witnessed another day of volatility the traders remaining without a direction and selling at higher levels and buying at lower levels.

"A lack of direction is leading to volatility. Day-traders are particularly active in mid-cap counters as well as select frontline scrips. The market is expected to remain rangebound till the budget, which will be the next big trigger," said most dealers at domestic brokerage houses.

The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex opened in positive territory, but eventually fell into negative territory in the afternoon trades.

Investors sold consumer durables, FMCG, technology and metal counters, which were among the biggest losers yesterday. Select banking and oil counters closed higher. In the BSE Sensex basket, 15 out of the 30 scrips closed higher. The breadth of the market was even, with gainers more or less matching the number of losers.

A dealer from Motilal Oswal Securities said lack of activity is hitting the market. "We may see a range-bound market in the near term with the next big trigger expected to be the Union Budget, which will be announced at the end of this month."

The BSE Sensex hit a high of 6608.96 and a low of 6533.97 in intra-day trades, before closing at 6577.83, down 15.70 points (0.24 per cent) from Wednesday's close. Volumes were lower than on Wednesday in the cash segment of the bourses; the BSE reported a turnover of Rs 2342.06 crore and the NSE reported a turnover of Rs 4953.58 crore.

Ahead of the announcement of quarterly results on Friday, HLL was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 3.99 per cent to close at Rs 154. Zee Telefilms was down 3.71 per cent to Rs 150.40, HDFC fell 2.83 per cent to Rs 790.85, Bharti Tele-Ventures fell 2.05 per cent to Rs 205.10 and HDFC Bank was down 1.55 per cent to close at 578.95.

Tata Power was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, rising 2.59 per cent to close at 401.75, followed by ICICI Bank, up 2.17 per cent to Rs 374.65, BHEL gained 1.65 per cent to Rs 812.30, HPCL was up 1.41 per cent to Rs 377.50 and ACC was up 1.38 per cent to Rs 379.35.

Strong buying support from foreign funds in the last few sessions has helped the market record a strong rally but the undertone of the market appeared cautious, brokers said. A lack of active domestic participation has also raised concerns among market players, they added.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 29.30 crore on Wednesday.