Volatile market ends weak

STOCK REPORT

Key share indices ended nearly 1 per cent lower on Thursday as investors booked profits after a 4 per cent rally on Wednesday, amid weak global markets.

Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex ended at 19,784.89, down 144.17 points or 0.7 per cent from Wednesday. It touched an intraday low of 19723.20 and a high of 19967.08.

National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty closed at 5912.10, down 25.80 points or 0.4 per cent. It moved between 5895.65 and 5966.95 during the day.

The Asian markets were down and European markets opened weak. The US is the biggest market for exports from these regions and a reported slowdown in retail sales indicates a softening trend in consumer spending.

The fall on the domestic bourses was tempered as India is less directly linked with the US economy and fund inflows to Indian equities are likely to remain strong, dealers said.

The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council also said on Thursday that the economy is likely to grow around 8.5-9.0 per cent in 2007-08 (Apr-Mar).

The worst hit were bank and information technology shares, which witnessed profit booking after rising for the past few sessions.

The combined turnover on BSE and NSE was Rs 300.54 billion, up from Rs 293.13 billion on Wednesday.

CNX Midcap Index and S&P CNX 500 Index ended up 2.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent up, respectively. The mid-cap and small-cap shares gained as investors were shifting focus in view of the expensive valuations of large-caps.

The biggest Nifty gainers were Bharat Petroleum, up 17.8 per cent at Rs 426, and Hindustan Petroleum, up 15.2 per cent at Rs 300.

The shares of state-run oil refiners surged on Thursday on hopes that the cabinet will approve the proposal to hike the foreign direct investment limit in new refineries to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent. National Aluminium extended gains, rising 1 per cent to Rs 424.

The worst hit on Nifty were Tata Power, down 4.9 per cent at Rs 1,249, Reliance Energy, down 3.5 per cent at Rs 1,854 and Wipro, down 3.3 per cent to Rs 457.