Markets end weak; banks, realty stocks hammered

20 May 2008

It was a disappointing session for the markets though recoverd a bit from day's low. Huge profit booking seen in realty, banking, pharma and oil stocks barring some metal, auto and technology stocks. The Sensex recovered nearly 94 points and the Nifty 33 points from day's low. Weak cues from Asian and European markets added to negative sentiments. Market breadth remained mixed with negative bias. Small cap stocks escaped from weakness while midcaps were under selling pressure.

The Sensex touched an intraday high of 17,367.13 and low of 17,136.26 before closing the day at 17,230.18, down 1.17% or 204.76. The Nifty fell 52.75 points or 1.02% to settle at 5104.95; touched a high/low of 5160.05 and 5072.40, respectively. The CNX Midcap closed at down. However, the BSE Small cap

Market breadth was nearly mixed; about 1523 shares have advanced, 1398 shares declined, and 177 shares remained unchanged.

Banking stocks like Bank of India, Axis Bank, SBI, Centurion Bank, HDFC Bank, Yes Bank, Union Bank and ICICI Bank were the major culprits. The BSE Bankex lost 1.98% or 177.43 points at 8,763.85.

Realty stocks have collapsed like a pack of card, including Phoenix Mills, Mahindra Life, Unitech, Indiabulls Real, Anant Raj Ind, DLF and Peninsula Land. The BSE Realty slid 1.87% or 150.15 points at 7,894.10.

There was sour pills from pharma side. The Pharma Index was down 1.19% at 4,269.84 led by Matrix Lab, Sterling Bio, Glenmark, Divis Labs, Sun Pharma, Lupin, Cipla, Nicholas Pirama and Dr Reddy's Labs.