Markets slump ahead of expiry

Markets ended in the red, a day ahead of the F&O expiry. Selling pressure in select spaces and weak global stocks weighed on investor sentiments.

The Sensex opened on a mildly soft note this morning as metal and realty stocks dropped. Subdued trades continued till noon. However, with increased selling pressure in the realty, FMCG and banking space, the index slumped 297 points from the day's high to fall below the 20,000 mark. The BSE benchmark touched a low of 19,924 and finally ended with a loss of 216 points at 20,005.

The Nifty ended at 6,013 - down 69 points.

On Tuesday, the US markets ended flat with a positive bias after recovering from the day's low. Asian markets ended in red today. The Hang Seng slumped 1.8% to 23,165. Straits Times and Shanghai Composite shed around 1.5% each.

Prestige Estates, Glyscoal Alloys and BS TransComm were the new listings today. Prestige Estates ended with a 5% gain over its issue price of Rs 183.

BSE realty index slumped 2% at 3,742 on fears that RBI may tighten key rates to curb high inflation. Indiabulls Real Estate shed over 4% in trades today to end at Rs 196. HDIL, Anant Raj Industries, Orbit Corporation and DLF were the other major losers in the sector.

FMCG and banking stocks also dipped. Consumer durables and metal stocks however managed to end with marginal gains.

BSE mid and small-cap indices outperformed the broader index. Both indices slipped 0.3% each to 8,430 and 10,816.

NTPC was the biggest loser among Sensex stocks. The stock dropped 3% to Rs 199 after posting a 2% decline in Q2 net profit at Rs 2,107.38 crore.

HDFC and Maruti Suzuki slipped 2.5% each to Rs 680 and Rs 1,525, respectively.

ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were major banking losers and dropped 2% each. ITC, Hindustan Unilever were among the FMCG losers - also down 2% each.

Bharti Airtel slipped 2% to Rs 322. Telecom companies fear that the mobile number portability (MNP) may, once again, miss the October 31 deadline. Idea Cellular (3.5%) and Tata Teleservices (2.7%) were some of the other losers. However, Reliance Communications jumped 3.6% to Rs 183.

ONGC, DLF, Jindal Steel, Cipla, Larsen & Toubro and Infosys were some of the other losers today.

Meanwhile, Mahindra & Mahindra added 1.6% to Rs 729. Tata Steel was up 1.5% at Rs 614.

BSE market breadth was negative. Out of 3,068 stocks traded, 1,727 declined while 1,213 advanced in trades.