Cancellation of coal blocks by the Supreme Court sent the stockmarket in a tailspin, with the CNX Nifty dropping by over 67 points and slipping below 8,000 mark, but the benchmark index recovered most of the ground and ended with modest losses on an eventful day at the NSE today.
Buying in the form of short-coverings in the last session helped the 50-issue NSE barometer to trim losses and close above the crucial 8,000 level.
Weakness in global markets amid fresh selling by foreign funds yesterday also weighed on the market.
In a verdict seen as a major blow to India Inc, the apex court this afternoon cancelled 214 coal blocks allotted to various companies between 1993 and 2010.
As the news trickled in, shares on the NSE went in a free fall. The Nifty, which hit a high of 8,042.05 in mid-session, fell sharply to intra-day low at 7,950.05, down 67.50 points.
However, tail-end short-coverings a day ahead of the expiry of September contracts rescued the market to some extent but the index still ended down 15.15 points, or 0.19 per cent over yesterday, at 8,002.40.
Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services, said, "the local indices traded in a wide range and slipped after the Supreme Court verdict on coal block allocations."
Top five losers from the Nifty pack were Jindal Steel (10.15%), PNB (4.04%), Tata Steel (2.76%), SBI (2.73%) and Bank of Baroda (2.55%).
Among the gainers, Coal India was up 4.83 per cent, HUL (2.97%), Cipla (2.69%), DLF (2.64%) and ITC (1.73%).
Asian stocks ended mixed with upward bias, while European markets traded lower in late morning deals.
Turnover in the cash segment was down to Rs 17,031.05 crore from Rs 18,291.27 crore yesterday. A total of 9,977.58 lakh shares changed hands in 76,64,254 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 91,90,820 crore.
