By IANS,
Mumbai : Nervousness over poll results continued to grip Indian equities markets, inducing a key index to shut shop Thursday 146 points down from its last closing figure after having risen from the day’s lows.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 11,774.04 points, almost 245 points lower, staged sort of a comeback to end trade about 146.74 points or 1.22 percent lower at 11,872.91 points.
The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) lost 0.97 percent to close at 3,600.15 points.
However, broader market indices ended in positive terrain, with the BSE midcap index gaining 0.41 percent, while the BSE smallcap index was up 0.57 percent.
The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 11,935.86 points and a low of 11,695.52 points.
Prominent of the 13 sectoral indices on the BSE, which saw downward movement, were the indices for oil and gas, telecom and capital goods. Realty and auto stocks found favour among buyers.
Among the top gainers on the Sensex were DLF, up 7.18 percent at Rs.249.20; Ranbaxy, up 3.66 percent at Rs.184; Reliance Infra, up 2.03 percent at Rs.809.80; and Hindustan Unilever, up 1.29 percent at Rs.224.50.
Losers included Sterlite, down 5.52 percent at Rs.449; Bharti Airtel, down 4.13 percent at Rs.764.05; Tata Motors, down 3.04 percent at Rs.260.15; and Wipro, down 2.78 percent at Rs.364.35.
The market breadth was mixed with 1,154 scrips advancing, 1,336 declining and 91 remaining unchanged.
Altogether, 42.31 crore shares worth Rs.4,943.62 crore were traded.
Data with the market watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), showed foreign funds were net buyers Thursday lapping up scrips worth $828 million.
The NSE’s Volatility Index – a measure of the market’s expectation of volatility over the short term – stood at 50.73 points as of Wednesday, a marginal rise from its previous figure. Anything above 35 points indicates risk.
In other key Asian markets, Tokyo markets ended a dismal trading day in the red with its key index, the Nikkei, ruling in the negative terrain throughout to shut shop at 9,093.73 points, 246.76 points below its previous close.
The Hang Seng, the primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, was ruling 517.93 points or 3.04 percent down at 16,541.69 points.
European bourses too were in the red, with the FTSE in Britain ruling marginally lower at 4,330.08 points while its French peer CAC 40 was trading 15.165 points down at 3,137.74 points.