Volatile mkt; Sensex ends in negative, metals & cement drag

It was an extremely volatile trading session as the market closed on soft note with a downward bias. The Sensex ended the day at 18877.96, down 40.56 points while the Nifty lost 21.20 points to close at 5698.50.

Selling pressure was seen in metals and cement stocks. BSE Metal Index fell 2.5% as China's Shanghai lost 3.65% after Beijing introduced a fresh set of curbs on the property market to cool home prices. Some of the losers among the metal stocks include Hindalco, SAIL, Jindal Steel, JSW Steel and Sesa Goa shedding around 3-4.5 percent each. ACC (down 3.8 percent), Shree Cement (down 3.1 percent), Ambuja (down 2.3 percent), UltraTech Cement (down 2 percent) were among the losers in the cement space.

High beta stocks like DLF and Reliance Infra (down 3.4 percent each) also dragged the indices during the day. Bajaj Auto fell around 2% on lower than expected sales numbers in February

State-owned hydro power company NHPC  fell as much as 19 percent despite the management's clarification on fall in shares. Shares dropped more than 37 percent in three consecutive sessions amid hefty volumes.

Slipping 11.41 percent, Essar Oil closed the day at  Rs 72.65 on the BSE, despite receiving phase III environmental clearance for its coal bed methane gas field at Raniganj, West Bengal. With the environmental nod granted by the government of India's Ministry of Environment and Forests, the company is allowed to increase drilling to 650 wells.

Meanwhile, on the gainers side were Dr Reddy's Lab, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, TCS and ITC gaining around 1 percent.

Venkys (India) rose 5.4  percent after the company decided to undertake expansion-cum-modernisation programme at an estimated cost of Rs 125 crore.

Marksans Pharma rallied 5 percent as the company entered into a settlement agreement with the holders of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) for settling USD 26,918,000 worth of FCCBs in principal value.

Sudarshan Sukhani, s2analytics.com advises that it will be an opportunity to initiate a new short-term position, if the market opens weak again tomorrow.

SP Tulsian feels that the market may remain in a tight range or may be having a range of about 100 points from here practically for whole week. "Probably things should subside by tomorrow and then we may have mild positive behaviour of the market for the remaining three, four days in this week," he adds.

Indian equity market stayed down with fresh pressure coming in from withered Europe, particularly Italy. FTSE, CAC and DAX opened in line with weak European futures, well below their previous closing figures. At 13.33 PM, the Sensex was down 77.60 points at 18840.92, and the Nifty was trading 37.50 points lower at 5682.20.

Metal, Autro, capital Goods and cement remain chief laggards while slect banks, pharma and oil and gas, and tech stocks were holding in the green.

Cement pack were the bigget losers with Ambuja Cement and ACC witnessing extreme selling pressure. Both these stocks had fallen approximately 4 percent.

Auto stocks have fallen following weak February sales numbers. The auto companies have recorded lower sales on both year-on-year as well as month-on-month basis.

Others which were leaning negatively on the indexes include heavyweights like Infosys, ITC, HDFC, Larsen and HUL.

Equity benchmarks continue to languish as auto, metals, FMCG, Capital Goods and Cement see largescale sell-off. Sentiment was also hit after concerns over fresh tightening measures in Beijing property sector hit China market.

Indian auto stocks fell following weak February sales numbers. The auto companies have recorded lower sales on both year-on-year as well as month-on-month basis. Bajaj Auto was the biggest loser in the auto index (-2.35 percent), while Maruti and Tata Motors were trading down 1.49 percent and 0.68 percent.

In the metal space, Jindal Steel (-3.1 percent), Sterlite, Hindalco  and Sesa Goa were down over 2.50 percent. Cement led losing side on the Nifty. Ambuja Cement and ACC were trading down 4.5 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.

At 11.46 AM, the Sensex was down 100.63 points or 0.53% at 18817.89, and the Nifty down 38.35 points or 0.67% at 5681.35.

A few pharma stocks were trading in the green with Dr Reddy's Lab and Sun Pharma being top index gainers.

Core Education, which recovered on Friday after its management admitted to pledged shares being sold, continued its upmove on Monday. In the late morning trade, it was up 9 percent. CNX midcap was down 1.52 percent

Meanwhile, the rupee slumped once again at 55.03 to a dollar.

The BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled by 126 points to 18,792.94 in the late morning deals due to heavy selling pressure from operators mainly in Metal, Realty, FMCG, Consumer Goods, Power and PSU sectors, triggered by weak Asian cues.

At 11.00 hrs IST, the Sensex is down 93.44 points or 0.49 percent at 18825.08, and the Nifty down 32.70 points or 0.57 percent at 5687.00.

Major losers were Sterlite Ind (2.79 per cent), Jindal Steel (2.54 per cent), Bajaj Auto (2.43 per cent), Hindalco Ind (2.22 per cent), HUL (2.08 per cent), Larsen (2.05 percent) and ITC (1.91 percent).

Asian stocks dropped in the early trade after China tightened mortgage rules to cool the property market. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan fell by 0.22 per cent to 2.86 per cent.

The Chinese government announced fresh measures to take the heat out of the nation's property sector, including higher down-payments and mortgage rates.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 626.89 crore on last Friday as per the provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Key equity benchmark started on a flat note, reflecting hurt sentiment by a patchy global growth outlook and weak data from Europe. However, the losses were limited as robust US economic figures overshadowed worries about automatic spending cuts hurting the US economy.

At 09.16 hrs IST, the Sensex is down 52.60 points or 0.28 percent at 18865.92, and the Nifty down 21.60 points or 0.38 percent at 5698.10.

Meanwhile, the rupee hit a near two-month low in early trading, tracking losses in most other Asian currencies, although some corporate dollar selling helped prevent broader losses in the local currency.

At 9:08 a.m. (0338 GMT), the rupee was at 54.94/95, marginally weaker than its close of 54.90/91 on Friday. The unit dropped to as low as 55.15 in opening trades, its weakest since January 8.

Sentiment for the rupee has been bearish after a close above 54.80 on Friday, traders said. However, USD/INR should see good technical resistance at around 55.15, ahead of the 55.89 peak in November.

Oil marketing companies are up in trade on the back of Saturday's petrol price hike. IOC is up 1 .7 percent, BPCL gains 1.5 percent, HPCL rises 1.3 percent.

Auto stocks: Maruti down 1.2 percent, Bharat Forge drops 1 percent, Tata Motors marginally in green.

BSE realty index is worst hit among sectors, down 1.6 percent; DB Realty falls 5 percent and DLF drops 2 percent.

Top Sensex losers: Hindalco down 2 percent, L&T slips 1.6 percent, HUL drops 1.4 percent.