Indices decline during the week as early results fail to excite

14 January 2006

Both frontline indices opened on a firm note on Monday by recording new intra-day lifetime highs in early trades. But traders turned cautious later in the day and exited part of their positions ahead of the results announcements, which led to a decline and the indices closed lower.

Selling pressure continued on Tuesday as both indices lost nearly 1.5 per cent each. Reliance Industries announced its quarterly numbers after market hours on Tuesday and Infosys came out with its results on Wednesday, which was a holiday for the markets. Both results were lower than market expectations.

The sharp decline in Infosys ADR prices in the US markets on Wednesday set the mood for Thursday. The stock declined close to 5 per cent as disappointed traders dumped it. TCS results, which were announced later on Thursday, were in line with expectations and helped prevent further decline in indices.

Friday morning saw a recovery as Infosys recovered from the pervious day's losses. ONGC rallied more than 2 per cent helping the indices considerably. However, a late sell off saw the indices giving up all their gains and closing marginally lower.

The Sensex lost 266 points or 2.76 per cent during the week and the Nifty declined by 67 points or 2.3 per cent over the week.

Mid-caps continued their out performance over the larger stocks from last week and the mid-cap index closed steady for the week. The index gained on Monday before correcting in the next two sessions. Friday saw a recovery and the index closed with gains of around one-fifth of a per cent. The CNX Mid-Cap 100 index gained 9 points or 0.2 per cent during the week.