By IANS,
Mumbai : After finishing in the green Thursday, Indian equities markets again slipped into the red Friday with a key index shedding more than 264 points to again go below the psychologically important 9,000 mark by the close of trading.
“As expected, markets are still searching for direction and are unable to hold on to gains as there is selling pressure whenever share prices go up a little,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of the capital market arm of India’s fourth largest share brokerage firm, the Delhi-based SMC Group.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) finished Friday at 8,965.20, down 264.55 points or 2.87 percent from its previous close Thursday at 9,229.75 points.
The Sensex opened some 25 points lower at 9,204.69 points, hit a high of 9,340.69 before slipping to its closing value.
The broader-based 50-share S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), also showed a similar trend and closed at 2,714.40, down 73.6 points or 2.64 percent from its previous close Thursday at 2,788.00 points.
The BSE midcap index finished at 2,892.95, down 29.85 points or 1.02 percent from its previous close Thursday at 2,922.80 points.
The BSE smallcap index closed at 3,323.54, down 8.26 points or 0.25 percent from its previous close Thursday at 3,331.80 points.
Of the 13 sectoral indices only one – automobiles – ended in the green. The major losers were information technology, consumer durables, telecommunication, entertainment and media and technology, and metals.
The top gainers were Tata Motors, up 6.62 percent, Grasim Industries, up 1.01 percent, Maruti Suzuki, up 0.56 percent, and Reliance Communications, up 0.15 percent.
The major losers were Jaiprakash Associates, down 6.62 percent, Tata Consultancy Service Ltd., down 5.10 percent, Infosys Technologies, down 4.94 percent and DLF Ltd., down 4.87 percent.
Overnight US markets closed in the red with a key index of the New York Stock Exchange finishing 3.21 percent lower. The Nasdaq index closed 3.14 percent lower than its previous close Wednesday.
Asian markets were mixed with the Nikkei, key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange ruling 0.08 percent lower but the Hang Seng, key index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was showing gains of 1.93 percent.
“Markets will be looking forward to rate cuts and other stimulus package measures to be announce Saturday and should respond accordingly Monday,” Thunuguntla said.