Nifty ends expiry session lower, but gains 6% in Feb series
23 Feb 2012
Choppy Nifty closed expiry session below the 5500 level with moderate losses on Thursday, weighed down by Infosys, ICICI Bank, L&T and Bharti. However, it was another best F&O series for the market in 2012, reporting an upside of over 6% on broadbased buying. Foreign institutional investors pumped in nearly Rs 18,000 crore in the February series.
Today, the BSE benchmark fell 66.75 points or 0.37%, to close at 18,078.5 after seeing a swing of 244 points intraday. Meanwhile, the NSE benchmark dropped 22.05 points or 0.4% to 5,483.30.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, MD & CEO, Destimoney Securities said today's volatility was expected considering F&O settlement day. Going forward, however, he doesn't expect anything much to happen till the state election results come out. Bandyopadhyay feels the market will continue to hover in range of 5400-5600.
Shares of Bharti Airtel fell 2.6% even after management clarified in its press release saying there is no suit filed by Econet Wireless Limited in any court claiming USD 3.1 billion or any such or other sum. Yesterday Reuters reports that Econet seeks USD 3.1 billion damages from Bharti Airtel.
Index heavyweights ICICI Bank and L&T declined about 1.5%; Infosys, ONGC and Wipro were down 0.6-1%.
Shares of Sterlite Industries lost 4% today; in actual it has been falling since reports on Tuesday that Sesa Goa will be merged with the company. In three days, the stock tanked over 13%.