Dismal close: Sensex loses 142 pts, banks & realty crash

It was an extremely volatile session today. The Sensex was down 142.88 points at 19427.56 while the Nifty lost 36.35 points to settle at 5872.60.

There was a massive downfall in rate sensitives like banking, auto and realty stocks as investors were cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy review on March 19.

Also, Cobrapost expose pressurised banking stocks as the Finance Ministry and Reserve Bank of India are investigating allegations of money laundering practices at top private sector lenders ICICI Bank (down 3.9 percent), HDFC Bank (down 1.7 percent) and Axis Bank (down 0.9 percent). BSE Bankex was down 1.7 percent.

Nifty poised for 6300, Bank Nifty support at 11,800: JM Fin

Among the realty stocks, IndiaBulls Real fell 5.7, DLF lost 4.2 percent, HDIL was down 3.3 percent, percent while Unitech slipped 3.4 percent.

Other losers on the Sensex were Tata Motors (down 3.3 percent), Gail and RIL slipping around 2 percent each.

Midcaps also took a beating in late trade. NCC slumped 7.9 percent, Usha Martin was down 7.4 percent, Hotel Leela slipped 5.2 percent while Srei Infrastructure crashed 15.4 percent.

Nalco slumped 8.8% as the floor price for the offer for sale has been set at Rs 40 a share, a more than 9% discount to yesterday's closing.

However, consumer durables saw good buying interest today. The index was 2.4 percent, while Titan Industries (up 5.8 percent) was the biggest gainer in the sector.

Other big gainers on the Sensex were M&M, Tata Power, Hero MotoCorp and HUL.

Rahul Mohindar, viratechindia.com feels that outlook continues to be strong in the longer term. "We are positive, but unless we really get that 5,950 plus kind of breakout one shouldn't really rush into the market. Broadly, 5,800 on the bottom, 5,950 on the top, I think that's where you are going to sway within the next 2 or 3 days," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

The market turned shaky towards late afternoon trade. The Sensex was down 105.60 points to be at 19464.84, while the Nifty fell 20.45 points at 5888.50.

Banks and realty stocks have been badly battered on the bourses. Banking stocks were still bearing the burnt of Cobrapost money laundering expose. BSE Bankex was down 1.3 percent while BSE Realty lost 2 percent.  Among the banking stocks, ICICI Bank slipped around 2.9 percent while HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were down around 1 percent.  However, Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.8 percent) and SBI (0.2 percent) were on the gaining side.

In the realty counter, Indiabulls Real Estate (down 4.6 percent), DLF (down 3.2 percent), HDIL (down 2.4 percent) were the biggest losers.

Other stocks on the downside were Tata Motors, Gail and Reliance (down around 2 percent each).

Nalco slumped 8.6% as the floor price for the offer for sale has been set at Rs 40 a share, a more than 9% discount to yesterday's closing.

Meanwhile, big gainers on the Sensex included Hindalco, M&M, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Power and Infosys (up around 1.5 percent each).

Consumer durables were being favoured by buyers. BSE Consumer Durables index was up 1.7 percent. Titan Industries added 3.8 percent and Videocon Industries gained 1.5 percent.

Jubilant FoodWorks was also up 3.2 percent.

BSE Sensex fell over a ton following profit booking in private banking and aoto stocks in the afternoon trade. The Sensex lost 142.39 points to trade at 19428.05 while Nifty slipped 34.25 points at 5874.70, breaking key psychological level 5900.

Banking stocks which have been dragging since morning extended losses as investors grew worried on the money laundering controversy.

Among the banking stocks, ICICI Bank fell 4.1 percent while both HDFC Bank and Axis Bank lost around 1.5 percent each. Both BSE Bankex and realty were down more than 2 percent each.

Commercial vehicle major Tata Motors dropped nearly 2.6 percent on profit booking. However,  Citi has recommended a buy on the stock. Citi expects Jaguar sales at 63000 units in financial year 2013-14, with an upside potential if the new 'F' type model and its variants are successful.

In the realty space, DLF (down 3.2 percent), IndiaBulls Real Estate (down 3.6 percent), HDIL (down 2.4 percent) were the major losers.

Technology continues to find investor favours with IT majors Infosys, TCS and Wipro were marginally up around 1 percent each.

Major gainers on the Sensex were HUL, Cipla, Hindalco and HDFC.

After a stable start, Indian market fell on profit booking. The Sensex was down 44.43 points at 19526.01, while the Nifty was at 5903.30, a 5.95 points lower yesterday's close.

Banking stocks were dragging indices as a fallout of the Cobrapost expose . The Finance Ministry and Reserve Bank of India are investigating allegations of money laundering practices at top private sector lenders ICICI Bank (down 2.9 percent), HDFC Bank (down 1.3 percent) and Axis Bank (down 0.8 percent). BSE Bankex was down 1.2 percent.

Other top losers on the Sensex were Tata Motors (down 1.7 percent) and Maruti Suzuki (down 1.1 percent).

Realty stocks too were facing investors' wrath as the index lost 1 percent. DLF was down 2.2 percent.

The major gainers on the Sensex included Hindalco, Cipla, HDFC, HUL and Sun Pharma (up around 1 percent each).

Shares of Punj Lloyd  rallied 2.9 percent after receiving the first offshore project in Saudi Arabia. The project, worth Rs 314 crore (USD 57.75 million), is scheduled for commissioning in September, 2014, the company said in its release.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei gained 0.5% as Japanese parliament approved next Bank of Japan Governor. Under the new management, BoJ is expected to start aggressive policy as soon as April. Kospi was weighed down by profit-booking in heavyweight Samsung which revealed its new smartphone, Galaxy S4. Hang Seng and China recovered, but were still down 2% for the week.

The market opened firm on Friday. The Sensex was up 89.41 points at 19659.85 while the Nifty gained 32 points at 5940.95. Global cues have also been supportive, US market closed at another record high as investors were encouraged by data showing the labour market's recovery was improving.

Back home, most of the oil and gas stocks were up including RIL (0.8 percent) , ONGC, IOC, BPCL (2.4 percent) and HPCL. All eyes will be on the oil marketing companies (OMCs) as petrol price may be reduced by about Re 1 per litre while diesel price may be hiked by 40-50 paise a litre.

The other major gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco, M&M, HDFC, Sterlite Industries and HUL up about 1.5 percent each.

Meanwhile, lingering effect of the money laundering controversy seemed to be felt on the banking stocks. HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank have lost around 1 percent each. BSE Bankex was down 0.2 percent.

Some of the losers on the Sensex included Tata Motors (0.5 percent) and ITC (down 0.2 percent).