SBI results spook Sensex, closes down 207 pts

The markets closed in the red for the second consecutive day just managing to keep afloat above the 18,000 level. At the close, the Sensex was down 207 points at 18,137, up 53 points from the day's low of 18,084 which was registered in the afternnon trades. The Nifty on the other hand lost 60 points to close the day at 5,138. In the broader markets, the smallcap and the midcap indices are down 0.6% each outperforming as compared to the BSE benchmark index, down 1.1%

The benchmark indices had a muted opening and were trading in a sideways manner throughout most of the session, raising hopes of a relatively stable trading day after the nearly 200-pts fall (Sensex) witnessed on Monday. But the result announcement of State Bank of India proved to be ominous. Thereafter, the Sensex dropped to touch the day's low of 18,084, down 351 points from the day's high. Chandan Taparia, Derivatives and technical analyst, Anand Rathi Financial Services opines that the Nifty is stuck in a narrow range of 5450 to 5630 levels and only range breakout on either side would give further direction to the market.

In results that were below street expectations, the country's largest public sector bank reported an 8.9% dip in its consolidated net profit at Rs 10,684.9 crore for the year ended March 31, 2011. For the year-ago period, the net profit was Rs 11,733.8 crore. The stock has slid by nearly 8% at Rs 2412.

ONGC has plunged by 7% to Rs 277 on reports that the government has increased upstream share to 38.5% of total subsidy burden of about Rs 77922 crore for the year ended March 2011 (FY 2011).

Among the sectoral indices, Oil & Gas index down 3% was the top sectoral loser followed by Bankex and PSU down 2% each.  On the other hand, Consumer Durables rose by nearly 1% which was the top sectoral gainer for the day. FMCG and IT index too closed in the positive adding 0.5% and 0.1% respectively. Among the Oil & Gas space, index heavyweight RIL was hurtling towards the 900 mark yet again, sliding by 2.5% at Rs 920.

Other than SBI, the draggers in the banking space were Bank Of Baroda, Union Bank, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank and ICICI Bank which lost between 1-4%. Meanwhile, the movers in the consumer durables space were Gitanjali Gems and Whirlpool up 2% each.


The top gainers among the Sensex-30 stocks were Jindal Steel (Rs 643) up nearly 2% followed by Hindustan Unilever (Rs 309), TCS (Rs 1142), ITC (Rs 187), DLF (Rs 227) and Bajaj Auto (Rs 1308) which gained between 0.5- 2%

Other than SBI, RIL and ONGC, the top losers were Hero Honda (Rs 1801), Reliance Infrastructure (Rs 585), Jaiprakash Associates (Rs 83), NTPC (Rs 171), ICICI Bank (Rs 1039) and Tata Motors (Rs 1189) which lost 1-3%
The market breadth was negative. Of the total 2915 stocks traded on the BSE, 1725 stocks declined while 1063 advanced.