Sensex continues its downward slide; auto stocks plunge (Roundup)

Continuing its downward trend for the third consecutive day, a benchmark index of the Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex), again closed in the red, but marginally, on Thursday.

Anxiety over below-average monsoon, rising crude oil prices, depreciating rupee and Greece debt crises led the Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to close the day's trade down 24 points or 0.09 percent.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed marginally lower in the day's trade. It slipped down 4.45 points or 0.05 percent at 8,130.65 points.

The S&P BSE Sensex, which opened at 26,940.64 points, closed the day's trade at 26,813.42 points -- down 23.78 points or 0.09 percent from the previous day's close at 26,837.20 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,948.84 points and a low of 26,551.97 points in the intra-day trade.

On Wednesday, the Sensex slumped over 350 points, while on Tuesday it crashed over 660 points on the back of a less-than-expected easing of the monetary policy by the Reserve Bank Of India and the hawkish outlook given by it.

The third consecutive day of market losses even prompted Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to state that the downward movement is a short trend which will not last as the economy continues to recover.

During a press conference on the finance ministry's preparedness to deal with a weak monsoon, Jaitley said: "I don't think they (foreign investors) have lost interest in India. The economy is improving and there is more stability than before."

On Wednesday the FIIs (foreign institutional investors) were net sellers in the cash market segment. They sold shares worth Rs.727.61 crore.

The DIIs (domestic institutional investor), on the other hand, were net buyers on Wednesday. They bought shares worth Rs.412.66 crore.

"As far as the markets are concerned, it's a day-to-day trend and that will not last. The economy is improving and the government's disinvestment plans are also on track," Jaitley said.

The government plans to off-load Rs.69,000 crore worth of equity stake through strategic and public offering routes this fiscal.

Analysts covering the day's trade said that the investors were gripped with panic at the beginning of the day as plunging SGX Nifty triggered fears of a meltdown.

"Nifty bounced back from the psychological level of 8,000, as investors weighed in the impact of weaker rainfall and today's positive close is indicative that investors are looking for bargain buying, deeming the recent steep falls as overdone," said Anand James, co-head technical research desk with Geojit BNP Paribas.

Gaurav Jain, director with Hem Securities, said: "Investors continued to stay on sidelines, keeping an eye on Greece debt repayment outcome scheduled for tomorrow."

During Thursday's trade, healthy buying was observed in capital goods, oil and gas, information technology (IT), banking and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) sectors.

However, heavy selling was observed in interest-sensitive stocks like automobile, healthcare, metal, consumer durables and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) scrip.

The S&P BSE capital goods index augmented by 97.59 points, oil and gas index gained 49.58 points, IT index increased by 21.69 points, banking index rose by 17.04 points and TECK index was up by 12.05 points.

The S&P BSE automobile index plunged by 128.68 points, healthcare index went lower by 122.54 points, metal index tanked 104.43 points, consumer durables index fell by 77.35 points, and FMCG index was down by 24.18 points.

The major Sensex gainer on Thursday were: Reliance Industries, up 1.85 percent at Rs.912.50, Wipro, up 1.75 percent at Rs.555.05, HDFC, up 1.18 percent at Rs.1,217.75, HDFC Bank, up 1.05 percent at Rs.1,015.10; and Axis Bank, up 0.98 percent at Rs.556.05.

The major losers were: Tata Steel, down 2.58 percent at Rs.308.25; ONGC, down 2.16 percent at Rs.301.40; Vedanta, down 1.89 percent at Rs.184; ICICI Bank, down 1.74 percent at Rs.290.85; and Bajaj Auto, down 1.37 percent at Rs.2,210.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed higher by 0.07 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.76 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined by 0.38 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was lower by 1.33 percent. France's CAC 40 receded by 1.74 percent, Germany's DAX Index was down by 1.40 percent at the closing bell here.