Market sees highest turnover, Nifty drops 58 points; banks, IT dip

The benchmark Sensex continued sell-off for the fourth consecutive day and closed sharply lower - below the 17,000 mark, on the back of sell-off across all sectors barring FMCG. The markets witnessed sharp cut in the opening trade following weak global cues post President Barack Obama proposed new limits on the size and trading practices of big US banks.

The US markets slipped 1-2% on Thursday and Asian markets also followed the same; Nikkei, Taiwan and Kospi fell 2-2.5%. Shanghai, Hang Seng, Jakarta and Straits Times were down 0.65-1%. European markets were marginally down, at the time of closing of Indian equities.

But short covering and good results from heavyweights ITC, Reliance Industries & Bharti Airtel managed to trim more than 50% morning losses. The Nifty also clawed back above the psychological 5,000 mark; BHEL, Idea Cellular, HCL Tech, Jindal Steel and Hero Honda were the only gainers. 

The markets reported highest ever turnover today of Rs 1,59,492.39 crore. This included Rs 20,562.43 crore from the NSE cash segment, Rs 1,32,392.09 crore from the NSE F&O and the balance Rs 6,537.87 crore from the BSE cash segment.

Big driver of the market, Reliance Industries' better-than-expected third quarter numbers helped the markets to cut huge losses. Mukesh Ambani's flagship company reported a 14.48% rise in its net profit of Rs 4,008 crore and 80.13% jump in net sales of Rs 56,856 crore while the estimates were Rs 3,954.60 crore on the net profit and Rs 48,785 crore on the net sales. Gross refining margin (GRM) also came in above the market estimates, at USD 5.90 a barrel versus USD 6 a barrel in second quarter of FY10. RIL expects better refining margins in 2010 and said there was strong local demand growth in Petrochem. The stock closed flat.

Portfolio Manager, PN Vijay said, "Reliance came a tad better than what we were all expecting is a great relief. The gas volumes would have held."