Sensex ends below 10K; ICICI Bank, RIL fall

Monday, 22 Dec 2008,

Indian stock market indices ended a choppy session lower Monday, after selling pressure intensified in index heavy-weights like ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries. Second rung stocks also gave up gains and end flat with a negative bias.

Equities began the F&O settlement week on a flat note and turned volatile due to lack of direction. Subdued Asian markets weren’t of any help either. In the last hour of trade, indices tripped as traders resorted to profit booking in oil&gas and banking stocks. European markets too opened weak and US stock futures pointed to a weak opening.

“Profit booking was seen in Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank as both these scrips were each up 40 per cent in this current F&O series,” said Rakesh Gandhi, technical analyst at Latin Manharlal Securities.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 9,928.35, down 171.56 points or 1.7 per cent from Friday's close. The index fell to a low of 9894.01 from an intra-day high of 10,173.34.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 3039.40, down 1.24 per cent or 38.20 points. The broader index hit a low of 3027.80 and a high of 3110.45 during the day.

Secondline stocks were comparatively less affected. BSE Midcap Index ended 0.13 per cent down and BSE Smallcap Index closed 0.24 per cent lower.

“Sensex faces stiff resistance at 10500-10800 levels and Nifty at 3200-3300. A stimulus package by the government or any other positive global newsflow may help benchmarks to cross this hurdle. Else, it (Nifty) will remain rangebound between 2700-3100 for next few weeks. On the lower side, 2800 would be a good buying opportunity,” Gandhi added.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Oil& Gas Index was down 3.02 per cent, BSE Bankex fell 2.48 per cent and BSE Auto Index declined 1.36 per cent. But the BSE Consumer Durables Index posted 2.94 per cent rise. The BSE Realty Index, which notched up significant gains in morning trade, gave in to profit booking and ended up just 0.13 per cent.

Among frontline stocks, ICICI Bank (-5.49%), Reliance Industries (-4.78%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-4.55%), Maruti Suzuki (-3.29%) and HDFC Bank (-3.01%) were badly hit.

Tata Motors (4.91%), DLF (2.73%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (2.05%), ITC (0.87%) and Tata Power (0.52%) managed to end with gains.

Market breadth on BSE showed 1,296 advances against 1,258 declines.

In Europe, FTSE 100 was down 0.86 per cent, CAC 40 declined 0.90 per cent and DAX declined 1.28 per cent. US markets are expected to open a little lower. Dow Jones stock futures were down 0.2 per cent, S&P 500 futures slipped 0.3 per cent and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.1 per cent.