Sensex ends lower; realty, telecom, banks, pvt power drag
26 Oct 2009
The Sensex ended lower after seeing consolidation throughout the session. It shrugged off positive global cues. The Nifty hovered around its psychological 5,000 mark for the major part of the day. Shares of realty, telecom, banking, private power, oil & gas and select metal companies witnessed selling pressure. However, buying in technology, pharma, select FMCG and auto stocks capped the losses to some extent.
Realty sector was the biggest loser in trade today. The respective index fell 4.6% post the news that the Income Tax Department has sent DLF a showcause notice on September 30, sources told CNBC-TV18. It is likely to scrutinise the books of accounts for assessment year 2007-08. The audit for assessment 2006-07 was ordered earlier. It recommended reassessing Rs 1,200 crore as additional income. This could lead to Rs 300-400 crore increased liability for the realty major.
Sources at DLF confirmed receiving the showcause notice. They added that the legal process was underway. The stock fell 5.4%. Among the other realty stocks, Unitech tanked nearly 6% and Indiabulls Real Estate was down 4.5%.
Punj Lloyd, an infrastructure company, tumbled 16.5% on disappointing set of numbers and traded volumes jumped over 600% on five-day average basis. Its Q2 consolidated net profit declined 63.33% to Rs 52.85 crore and net sales fell 1.7% to Rs 2,876.44 crore. The company reported poor set of numbers on the back of Simon Carves' cost overruns. Simon Carves incurred Rs 130 crore of loss.
In a press conference, the company said legacy orders stood at Rs 200-250 crore and productivity in some projects was as low as 20%. "All cost overruns from construction front."
Shares of Zee group were buzzing on the back of restructuring news. Zee News will demerge its the Regional Entertainment Channel Business Undertaking (comprising of 6 television channels viz. Zee Marathi, Zee Talkies, Zee Bangla, Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada & Zee Cinemalu) into Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) under a Scheme of Arrangement.