Benchmark share indices ended lower for the fifth straight day, amid a volatile trading session, on persistent selling by foreign funds with index heavyweight Reliance Industries leading the fall.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended at 15,182 down 197 points or 1.3% and the 50-share Nifty provisionally ended at 4,549 down 64 points or 1.4%.
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(Updated at 15:05 hrs)
The Sensex has crashed suddenly with selling pressure in heavyweights Reliance, Larsen & TOUbro and Bharti Airtel. The three shares have accounted for a 100 point fall in the index. The Sensex is now down 193 points at 15,184. Nifty is down 69 points at 4,543.
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(Updated at 1435 hrs)
Markets have recovered from the day's low on buying in FMCG shares. The Sensex dropped to a low of 15,214 in mid-noon deals. But the index has now managed to recover to 15,361 - down just 18 points. Nifty is down 11 points at 4,601.
Weakness was noticed in the BSE capital goods index which dropped 1% to 8,056. Jaiprakash Associates touched a new 52 week low today and was trading down 5% to Rs 55.
Rate sensitives were weak with the BSE realty, bankex and auto indices slipping 0.8% in trades. The RBI in its credit policy review did not make any changes to the repo or reverse repo rates which some of the analysts were expecting.
Hero MotorCorp, Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and Hindalco shed 2-4% each. Among other key losers were Larsen & Toubro, Wipro and Bharti Airtel.
Reliance dropped 0.7% to Rs 730. Oil minister Jaipal Reddy said on Thursday that the decline in gas output from RIL's east coast block is due to the company drilling fewer number of wells than promised and stoppage of production at six wells.
Meanwhile, FMCG index gained 1% at 4,025. ITC jumped 1.5% to Rs 200 while Hindustan Unilver advanced 0.7% to Rs 399.
ONGC advanced 3% in trades to Rs 255. HDFC Bank, DLF and HDFC added 1-2% each.
Among other stocks, Wockhardt plunged 8.3% to Rs 277, extending Monday’s 10% fall, on concerns that it will face increased competition for sale of generic Toprol, after Mylan received an approval to sell the drug in the US.
Srei Infrastructure and Finance slipped 4% to Rs 24.85 on reports that the company has decided to raise up to Rs 500 crore through a public issue of infrastructure bonds. On the othr hand, SKS Microfinance gained smartly in morning deals as the RBI on Monday allowed microfinance institutions (MFIs) to raise up to $10 million through external commercial borrowings (ECBs), as against the earlier limit of $5 million, a move that will widen their fund raising sources. However, the stock has given off most of its gans and is now up 0.7% at Rs 94.60.
BSE market breadth is negative with 1,769 shares on the declining side as against 873 shares on the advancing side. A total of 2,744 shares have been traded so far.