BY IANS,
Mumbai: Trading at Indian equities markets came to a tame end Thursday with a key index struggling to make a comeback and ending 55 points in the red.
Profit booking ended a two-day rally of the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Sensex, which tried to make a comeback from the days’s low but closed 55.34 points down at 15,411.47, 0.36 percent lower than Wednesday’s close.
The Sensex had fallen to an intra-day low of 15,240.73 points – 226 points below its last closing figure – and touched a high of 15,568.74 points.
Like the Sensex, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too closed in the red, shedding 0.38 percent to close at 4,637.7 points.
The broader market indices were also in the negative terrain, with the BSE midcap index ending 0.22 percent lower, and the BSE smallcap index being 0.9 percent down.
Of the 13 sectoral indices on the BSE, those for IT, PSUs and oil and gas stocks ended in the red, while metal, auto and FMCG scrips found favour among buyers.
Top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco, up 7.92 percent at Rs.101.50; M&M, up 6.18 percent at Rs.815.30; Sterlite, up 5.82 percent at Rs.702.25, and HDFC Bank, up 3.85 percent at Rs.1,551.75.
Of the losers, ONGC was down 4.01 percent at Rs.1,117.90; Jaiprakash Associates down 3.96 percent at Rs.214.90; ACC, down 3.84 percent at Rs.862.85, and BHEL, falling 3.46 percent at Rs.2,271.45.
Trading volume dipped below the Rs.100,000-crore mark to stand at Rs 94,928.21 crore as against Rs.107,313.51 crore Wednesday.
The NSE cash segment contributed about Rs.23,868 crore, while about Rs 63,464 crore came from NSE futures and options segment. The BSE cash segment saw trade worth about Rs.7,596 crore.
Profit booking in lesser scrips tilted the balance of advances to declines. Of the total stocks traded on the BSE, 967 advanced, 1,768 declined and 60 remained unchanged.
Data with the market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) showed that foreign funds bought shares worth $151.8 million Thursday.
Other Asian markets also closed weak.
A key index of Tokyo markets, the Nikkei, fell a marginal 10.16 points to end trade at 9,981.33 points, but still shut shop in the green.
The Hang Seng, the primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, managed to stay in the green, rising 5.37 points to 18,791.03 points.
Markets across Europe were wobbly, with the FTSE in Britain trading 20.25 points higher at 4,457 points, and its French peer CAC 40 ruling 4.87 points up at 3,320.14 points.