Markets recover partially, IT and FMCG stocks gain

Markets recovered partially in the noon deals on back of renewed buying interest shown by investors in technology and FMCG stocks. The Sensex was at 16,212, down 148 points and the S&P CNX Nifty was at 4,878, down 45 points.

Earlier in the day, the Sensex touched the low of 16,052.

Meanwhile, the European markets have opened higher. CAC 40 index opened at 2,8149, up 1.4%, FTSE has opened higher by 1% at 5,092 and the DAX has also opened higher by 60 points at 5,224.

Back home, Tata Motors was the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down nearly 4% to Rs 149. Hindalco shed 3.5% to Rs 134. HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, L&T, Sterlite Industries, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, Copal India and Hero MotoCorp also shed 1.6-3.2% each in trades thus far.

At the same time, Cipla, NTPC, Tata Power, Wipro, ITC, ONGC, TCS, Bajaj Auto and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the gainers on the benchmark index.

On the sectoral front the metal stocks continued to reel under the intense selling pressure consecutively for the second day. The BSE Metal index was the top sectoral loser, down 2% or 244 points to 11,538. Consumer Durables index shed 1.8% or 118 points to 6,626 and the Capital Goods index lost 1.6% to 11,193 levels. Realty, Auto, Bankex, PSU, Power and Oil & Gas indices were also trading lower by 0.15%-1% each.

On the other hand the technology stocks witnessed frsh buying after the Indian rupee tumbled by 34 paise to an almost 28-month low of Rs 49.82 per US dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange today. The BSE It index advanced 31 points or 0.62% to 5,033. Teck and FMCG indices were also trading higher by 0.5% and 0.3% each respectively.

NMDC was the top loser among the metal stocks, down 5% to Rs 228. Hindalco, SAIL, Bhushan Steel, Sesa Goa, NALCO, Coal India Hindustan Zinc and JSW Steel were also trading lower by 1%-3% each. Among the IT stocks Mphasis, HCL Tech, Patni Computer, Wipro, Oracle Financial Services Software, Core Projects and Financial technologies advanced 0.2%-3.2% each.

The broader markets were trading lower. The BSE mid-cap index shed 61 points to 6,214 and the small-cap index declined 98 points to 7,023.

Overall breadth was extremely negative as 1,851 stocks were declining while 697 stocks were advancing on the BSE.