By IANS
New Delhi : A strong opening notwithstanding, Indian equities lost considerable ground and closed in the negative territory Thursday, with anxious investors booking profits on successive upswings following two days of losses.
The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened higher by 326.91 points at 17,920.98 points, against the previous day’s close at 17,594.07 and rose higher to 18,096.31 points within minutes.
The index, however, successively shed ground and closed at 17,221.74 points with a loss of 372.33 points, or 2.12 percent, over the previous day’s close, data with the exchange showed.
“It appeared from the morning session that there would be some positive movement today. But obviously, people have chosen to book profits after the bloodbath on Monday and Tuesday,” said an analyst with a large brokerage in Mumbai.
“Till some major positive triggers come by, the market movement is expected to be erratic with a slight bit of negative overtones. No opportunity will be lost to book profits at every small gain in the index,” the analyst added.
All the 13 sector-based indices also closed lower, led by that for metals, down 5.70 percent, followed by those for power, down 5.32 percent, consumer goods, down 4.87 percent, and state-run enterprises, down 4.10 percent.
At a broader level, the drop in both mid-cap and the small-cap indices at BSE was much steeper than that for the 30-share Sensex, at 3.23 percent and 3.95 percent, respectively.
The market breadth was distinctly negative with only 45 scrips in the ‘A’ group, representing the most actively traded counters after those in the Sensex basket, closing in the positive territory, against 176 that declined.
Within the Sensex, only six shares – Housing Development Finance Corp, Satyam Computers, Reliance Communications, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel and Associated Cement – registered gains while 24 ended with losses.
Those that lost ground were led by NTPC, down 8.94 percent, followed by Reliance Energy, down 8.75 percent, Larsen and Toubro, down 5.62 percent, Hindustan Aluminium, down 5.47 percent and Bajaj Auto, down 4.76 percent.
After two days of heavy losses, the Sensex had ended with a significant gain of 5.17 percent, or 864.13 points Wednesday, bringing cheer to investors who had lost upward of $300 million in market capitalisation.
The positive turnaround was on account of the US Federal Reserve delivering a surprise interest rate cut of 75 basis points early Tuesday, which shored up market confidence across the globe, including India.