Markets recover partially at close

Markets recover partially at close; Sensex ends down 89 points at 17,686, while the Nifty sheds 38 points to close at 5,275 (provisional).

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(Updated at 1445 hrs)

After closing below the 18,000-mark on Tuesday, the BSE Sensex failed to recover lost ground today as well. The BSE’s benchmark index touched an intra-day high of 17,864, and lodged an intra-day low of 17,594. After opening at 17,724, 51 points lower than the previous day’s close, the index continued to trade in a choppy range of approximately 150 points. In late afternoon trades, the Sensex shed 190 points at 17,585. The Nifty, which opened at 5,293, touched an intra-day high of 5,339 and low of 5,254. At 1430 hours, the index was trading down 60 points at 5,253.

The markets saw a fair recovery during morning trades, when the Sensex rebounded from a low of 17,593 and gained 33 points at 17,808 at 1030 hours after a negative market opening following weak Asian cues, and investor averseness due to fears that the RBI may introduce further tightening to tame inflation.

Gainers on the Sensex, close to the market close, were Mahindra & Mahindra at Rs 663 up 5.5% following a 78% jump in quarterly profits at Rs 735 crore (y-o-y), while HDFC at Rs 609 and ICICI Bank at Rs 978 were both up 3% each. Alternatively, ADAG stocks Reliance Infra at Rs 530 and Reliance Communications at Rs 95 were down 24% and 17% respectively, after market regulator, the Sebi, barred Reliance Infra and Reliance Natural Resources, now merged into Reliance Power, from investing in publicly-listed securities till the end of calendar year 2011. The Sebi found these ADAG companies guilty of mobilizing funds raised through overseas borrowing and foreign bonds to transact in the marklets.

JP Associates fell 10% at Rs 73, while Hindalco Industries at Rs 222 and BHEL at Rs 2,081 were both down 5%.

The Bankex was trading flat at 11,533, followed by the Oil & Gas index at 9,288. The Power index saw a dip of 4.5% at 2,500, while Realty, one of the worst-performers today, fell 4% at 2,080. Metal stocks also witnessed selling pressure, as a result of which the index fell 3% at 15,421.

The broader markets bore the brunt of hectic selling on the BSE, and the Mid-cap and Small-cap indices shed heavily at 6,287 and 7,641 down 4% and 4.4% respectively.