Sensex snaps seven-day rally

After posting gains for seven consecutive days, the Sensex On Monday ended in the red, owing to profit booking and negative cues from the Asian markets. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) at 6.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2009-10 also failed to enthuse investor sentiment.

China’s Shanghai Composite tumbled 6.74 per cent to close at its three-month closing low at 2,667.74. The Hang Seng fell 374.43 points, a five-week closing low for the index on liquidity worries.

“Weakness across Asian markets led to a broad sell-off On Monday. The markets did not react to the GDP numbers which were in-line with expectations,” said Sarabjeet Kaur Nangra, VP, Research, Angel Broking.

The BSE Sensex On Monday opened 110.19 points down from its previous close, following a 7.5 per cent, or 1,112.73 points rally achieved during the past seven trading sessions. The 30-share index continued to trade in the negative terrain throughout the day. The index slipped 332.54 points to touch a low of 15,589.80 post noon trades. Sensex, ended down 255.70 points, or 1.61 per cent at 15,666.64. The NSE Nifty index fell by 70.25 points, or 1.48 per cent to 4,662.10 points.

According to provisional data from the BSE, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs 270.85 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 18.65 crore. Most of the sectoral indices also mirrored the broader markets. The BSE IT index led the fall with a decline of 2.26 per cent. Among the IT stocks, Infosys was down 2.53 per cent, TCS declined 2.5 per cent and Wipro slipped 2.37 per cent.

The metal index declined 2.18 per cent. FMCG and Oil & gas indices shed 1.29 per cent and 1.71 per cent, respectively. The realty index, however, bucked the trend and finally settled with an increase of 2.91 per cent at 4,413.59. The auto index managed to break into positive and ended with a gain of 1.09 per cent. Mahindra & Mahindra surged 4.15 per cent to Rs 860.05.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 4,172 stocks traded on both exchanges, 2,329 advanced and 1,732 declined.

Tata Steel plunged 3.26 per cent to Rs 424.30, following its second consecutive quarterly loss declared last week. Sensex heavyweight Reliance declined 3.20 per cent to Rs 2,004.10.

Metal stocks, Hindalco and Sterlite fell by 3.11 per cent and 2.97 per cent to close at Rs 105.85 and Rs 675.30, respectively.