Markets end weak amid volatility; realty, metal, banks drag

08 February 2008

It was extremely volatile and weak day for the markets wherein the Sensex and Nifty both traded flat across yesterday's closing level and finally settled down on weak note. Realty, metal, banking, consumer durables and capital good stocks were seen struggling during today's trade but the IT and FMCG counters outperformed.

Midcap and smallcap stocks were also extremely weak and witnessed heavy selling pressure giving negative breadth. On the volume front also, it was quite disappointing. Among the IT counters, most of the frontliners were up over 4%.

Sensex ended down 62.04 points or 0.35% at 17464.89, and the Nifty closed down 12.90 points or 0.25% at 5120.35. On BSE, about 590 shares advanced, 2369 shares declined, and 52 shares were unchanged. BSE midcap was down 1.9% at 7633.27 and Smallcap ended down 2.77% at 9920.35.

BSE auto index ended down 0.88% at 4741.49. Hind Motors, Amtek Auto, Punj Tractors were the leading losers.

BSE bankex closed down 2.17% at 10159.42. Axis bank, Kotak Mahindra, Canara Bank and ICICI Bank were the top losers.

BSE capital good index ended down 1.62% at 15859.11. Jyoti Structures, Praj Industries, Reliance Infra were the top losers in this space.