Markets end in red amid choppy trade; metal, realty stocks down

13 June 2008

The markets have closed in red after witnessing volatility throughout the day. It seemed that higher inflation numbers already factored in by the markets. It had opened with a gap up in the morning session and tried to hold but could not able to maintain that and turned choppy for the whole day. Selling seen in metal, realty, power, FMCG and some oil stocks while buying in pharma stocks. Markets have not reacted to negative European cues.

Inflation is at 7-year high now. It has increased further at 8.75% for the week ended May 31 as against 8.24% in earlier week, which is much higher than expectations of 8.32%. Inflation for the week ended April 5 revised to 7.71% versus 7.14% earlier. Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities went up by 0.6% at 231.1 and for manufactured products up 0.7%, Primary Articles up 0.9%.

Ranbaxy Laboratories has been star of the day. The stock jumped by 4.31% to close at Rs 566.90 after the news that Pfizer is exploring possibility of counter offer for Ranbaxy and sent feelers to institutions, as per sources. Institutions hold 41.28% stake the Ranbaxy Labs, in which LIC is the major holder with 15.8% stake. Japanese pharmaceutical company, Daiichi Sankyo agreed to buy entire 34.8% stake in the Ranbaxy from promoters yesterday and will increase stake to 50.1% in near term.

The Sensex settled at 15,189.62, down 60.58 points or 0.4% after hitting an intraday high of 15,337.10 and low of 15,135.81. The Nifty was hovering around 4500 mark but managed to close above that. It has hit a high/low of 4563.35 and 4491.35, before ending the day at 4517.10, down 22.25 points or 0.49%.

Amongst frontliners, Tata Communications was down -5.23%, Tata Power -4.54%, Sterlite Industries -4.12%, Suzlon Energy -3.90%, Jaiprakash Associates -4.03%, DLF -3.61%, HDFC Bank -3.45% and Hindustan Unilever -3.16% while Ranbaxy Labs was up 4.31%, ICICI Bank 3.03%, BHEL 2.79%, TCS 2.16% and Dr Reddy's Labs 3.5%.

On the weekly basis, Sensex and Nifty were down 2.5% each. Sensex has recovered nearly 500 points from week's low of 14,645.3. Amongst sectors, BSE IT Index fell 5.5% and Realty down 9%%. Suzlon crashed 12.5%, Tata Comm 12%, and ONGC & HDFC down 10% each. Ranbaxy jumped by 12% at Rs 567 as Daiichi will buy promoter stake at Rs 737 per share.