Nifty ends below 2700; banking, CG, tech, metal drag

23 January 2009

The benchmark indices remained under pressure throughtout the session, after some initial choppy trade. Both indices closed the day as well as week on a weak note. The sell-off was mainly led by banking, technology, capital goods, metal and major telecom stocks. Midcap and small cap stocks continued to remain on the lower side for the second consecutive day.

Dismal global cues also put more pressure on the markets in the second half of session. United Kingdom (UK) Q4 GDP declined 1.4% on quarter-on-quarter basis and government declared economy is in recession for the first time since 1991. UK Q4 production and services saw biggest quarterly decline since 1970s. Its 2008 GDP growth was at 0.7%, which was lowest since 1992.

European markets witnessed huge selling pressure; FTSE went down 69 points to 3,982. CAC was down 74 points at 2,795 and DAX down 121 points at 4,098, at 3:38 hours IST. US futures were also trading sharply lower; the Dow Jones Futures was down 203 points or 2.51% at 7,889 and Nasdaq Futures down 27.50 points or 2.35% at 1,144.75.

Asian markets also extended losses in late trade. Nikkei was down 3.81% and Kospi fell 2.05%. Straits Times fell 1.38%. Shanghai, Hang Seng and Jakarta tumbled 0.6-0.9%.

Finally, the 50-share NSE Nifty closed below 2700 mark, which was the crucial level, as experts said. It shut shop at 2678.55. down 1.3% or 35.25 points from previous close, after hitting an intraday low of 2661.65. The 30-share BSE Sensex remained below 8700 level for major part of the day and touched a low of 8,631.60. It shed 139.49 points, to settle at 8,674.35, down 1.58%.

Leading players responsible for today's fall are SBI, BHEL, ICICI Bank, Reliance Communication, Infosys, HUL, L&T, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, TCS and Tata Steel, which lost 1-7%. However, Reliance Industries, Cipla, Idea Cellular, Tata Motors and Ranbaxy Labs witnessed buying interest.