Sensex dips 106 pts amid choppy session

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index, or Sensex, On Friday slipped amid growing concerns that this year’s monsoon will be the worst in the last seven years. Heavy selling took place in realty, information technology and auto stocks.

The Sensex closed at 15,411.63, down 106.86, or 0.69 per cent. The CNX Nifty ended the day at 4,580.05, slipping 24.95, or 0.54 per cent.

“Markets have been in confusion, with clear signs of they going down because of fear of drought. However, there is enough liquidity, clearly visible by over-subscription of the NHPC IPO,” said Daljeet Kohli, head ( PCG research), Emkay Global Financial Services.

US markets gained on Thursday following a strong performance by Wal-Mart, ignoring disappointing data on retail sales and jobs.

Among the BSE-30 stocks, ONGC advanced the maximum, (4.79 per cent) and Reliance Infrastructure gained 1.49 per cent. Reliance Industries, Sterlite and HDFC Bank were up less than a per cent.

Jaiprakash Associates shed 3.52 per cent. Hindustan Unilever (2.60 per cent), NTPC (2.41 per cent), Reliance Communication (2.34 per cent), ACC (2.21 per cent) and HDFC (2.19 per cent) were some of the other prominent losers. Maruti Suzuki, Hero Honda, ITC, ICICI Bank and Sun Pharmaceuticals declined 1.5-2 per cent.

The oil & gas index rose 1.73 per cent after crude oil continued its northward journey for the second day. Consumer durables (1.20 per cent) and public sector units (0.45 per cent) were the other sectoral gainers.

The realty index slipped 1.69 per cent today. It was the best performer this week. FMCG (1.26 per cent), information technology (1.16 per cent), technology (1.05) and auto (1.04 per cent) indices were among the prominent losers. IT stocks slipped on the back of poor US retail sales and increase in weekly jobless claims.

The market breadth was marginally positive. Out of 2,759 shares traded, 1,397 advanced, 1,281 declined and 81 were unchanged on the BSE today. For the week, the benchmark index closed up by 1.66 per cent. The realty index soared the maximum (by 7.78 per cent). Metal (4.77 per cent), oil &gas (3.25 per cent), healthcare (3.03 per cent), consumer durables (3.02 per cent), technology (2.68 per cent), Bankex (2.17 per cent) and auto (2.05 per cent) were the major sectoral movers this week.

Midcap and small cap indices performed better than the Sensex this week. The Midcap index was up 3.14 per cent while the small-cap index added 3.53 per cent. Market experts expect range-bound trading for some time. Amitabh Chakraborty, head (equities), Religare Securities, said, “The Nifty should move in the range of 4,300-4,700 to settle at 4,500-4,600 levels.