Rate cut fails to cheer market; Bankex declines 3%

Mirroring weak cues from the overseas markets, the Sensex opened with a negative gap of 215 points at 10,765. The index thereafter tried to recover but slipped to lower levels after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced its annual credit policy.

The RBI today announced a 25 basis points cut in repo and reverse repo rates. The central bank kep Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) unchanged at 5%.

However, the index recovered smartly and rebounded into the positive zone on the back of fresh buying in select index heavyweights. The index touched a high of 11,069 - up 304 points from the day's open.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 81 points at 10,898.

The Bankex dropped nearly 3% at 5,317. The Auto and Capital Goods indices declined around 2.5% each at 3,364 and 7,791, respectively. The Realty index however advanced over 2% to 2,249.

INDEX SHAKERS...

Tata Steel slumped 7% to Rs 244. ICICI Bank plunged 6.5% to Rs 399.

Maruti and Tata Motors tumbled over 5% each to Rs 789 and Rs 233, respectively. Sterlite shed over 4% at Rs 383.

Larsen & Toubro dropped 3.5% to Rs 854. SBI and Reliance Infrastructure have slipped over 3% each to Rs 1,255 and Rs 675, respectively.

Mahindra & Mahindra has declined 2.5% to Rs 438. Infosys was down 2% at Rs 1,364.

...AND THE MOVERS

Bharti Airtel soared nearly 4% to Rs 719.

Hindalco surged nearly 4% to Rs 56, and Sun Pharma gained 3.5% at Rs 1,223.

DLF moved up nearly 3% to Rs 237. Tata Power and ITC added nearly 2.5% each to Rs 880 and Rs 189, respectively.

HDFC Bank and Hindustan Unilever were up nearly 2% each at Rs 1,087 and Rs 242, respectively.

OTHER PROMINENT GAINERS...

Welspun Guj zoomed over 15% to Rs 90. RCF, Yes Bank, Voltas, IDFC, Bajaj Holdings, Indiabulls Realestate, Dabur India, HDIL, Pantaloon Retail, Jai Corp and Cipla surged 5-9% each.

...AND THE LOSERS

Zee Entertainment slumped over 10% to Rs 121. Punj Lloyd, Piramal Healthcare, Mphasis, Bank of India, Hindustan Construction, Asian Paints, Hindustan Copper, Max India, Tech Mahindra and Siemens declined 5-9% each.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 283.45 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs 255.26 crore), Educomp Solutions (Rs 205 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 202.80 crore) and HDIL (Rs 187.23 crore).

Cals Refineries led the volume chart with trades of around 2.63 crore shares followed by Unitech (2 crore), Suzlon (1.70 crore), Reliance Natural Resources (1.56 crore) and HDIL (1.40 crore).