RIL, ICICI Bank, TCS drag Sensex 220 points down; Metals melt

08 Jul 2011

Indian equity benchmarks retreated quite sharply in the late trade on Friday, with falling over 1% on profit booking. Metal space played spoilsport today after the group of ministers (GoM) approved Draft Mines & Minerals Development & Regulation Bill (MMDR Bill).

The 30-share BSE Sensex shed 220.26 points. It slipped below the psychological 19,000-mark to close at 18,858.04. Heavyweights Reliance Industries, TCS and ICICI Bank led this fall.

Devangshu Datta, Consulting Editor of Outlook Profit said the market was looking anyway for an excuse to do some profit booking today. The Sensex had rallied 351 points on Thursday.

Jyotivardhan Jaipuria of BoAML expects the market to correct below the 18,000 level as weak results could drive more downgrades. "The Sensex EPS target of 1225 may be downgraded to below the 1200 levels," he said.

Even Michael Preiss of Standard Chartered Bank is still underweight on India and believes that money quantitative easing high oil prices has led to high input prices inflation and has negatively affected the Indian equity market.

The 50-share NSE Nifty fell 68.30 points or 1.19%, to settle at 5,660.65. However, Datta said the rally would still be on if it finds support anywhere above 5600.