Indian market slips for a second day

11:23 GMT

Jul 2008

(RTTNews) - Friday, the Indian market closed sharply lower amid negative global cues and profit booking by traders. The market mood remained subdued due to a lack of buying interest from institutional investors. Later in the afternoon, the market extended losses, following the weak opening of the European markets and a firm up in the price of oil in Asian trading.

After opening with a negative gap of 325 points, the Sensex declined amid a lack of buying interest. The Sensex touched an intra-day low of 14,210 before recouping some of its losses towards close of the session. The benchmark finished at 14,275, down 502 points or 3.40% over the previous day’s close. Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty finished at 4,312, down 122 points or 2.74%.

On the BSE, the broad-based BSE 500 index (down 2.36%), the small-cap index (down 0.25%) and the mid-cap index (down 0.15%) outperformed the main indexes. Banking, oil & gas, realty and capital goods stocks were among the major losers, while FMCG and health care stocks posted small gains. The market breadth was negative with 1164 stocks advancing compared to 1450 stocks that declined. Nevertheless, the Sensex futures closed at a premium of 74 points to the benchmark.

ICICI Bank (down 9.62%), HDFC Bank (down 7.17%), Reliance (down 6.90%), HDFC (down 5.66%), Jaiprakash Associates (down 4.50%), ONGC Corporation (down 4.31%), Reliance Infrastructure (down 4.12%), BHEL (down 4.01%), DLF (down 3.24%),
Larsen & Toubro (down 3.16%), Tata Motors (down 2.95%), Cipla (down 2.65%), Tata Steel (down 2.08% and State Bank of India (down 2.0%) were the major decliners.

Meanwhile, Ranbaxy, ACC, Hindustan Unilever, Satyam Computers, NTPC, Grasim Industries and Reliance communication finished with small gains.

ABB plunged Rs.70 or over 7% after the company reported a 21% decline in its net profit in the June quarter. Oriental Bank of Commerce rose 5.12% after the company’s net profit grew almost 60% in the June quarter. Educomp Solutions plummeted 11.14% despite the company reporting a 180 percent rise in its net profit in the June quarter. Gateway Distriparks rose 0.53% on company approving buyback of its shares at a price not exceeding Rs.110 per share.

TV Today Network (up 12.64%) and MM Forgings (up 18.45%) soared after the companies proposed to consider buyback of their shares. I-flex Solutions ended almost flat after the company reported a 44% decline in its net profit in the June quarter. Union Bank of India declined 0.54% after the bank’s profit remained almost flat in the June quarter.

Chowgule Steamships rose 5.30% over reports that the company has placed orders for acquisition of new buildings 7 handy size vessels for an aggregate outlay of about US dollars 262 million. Cummins India declined 2.54% after the company approved a scheme of amalgamation of its subsidiaries Cummins Sales and Service India and Cummins Auto Services with the company.

Markets across the Asia-Pacific fell sharply Friday, after weak US housing and jobs data weighed on the US markets overnight. Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged 1.97%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.50% and China’s Shanghai Composite index declined 1.55%, while Malaysia’s KLSE Composite index ended flat.

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