Nifty ends off lows; bounces back from 2700

20 Feb 2009,

Indian equities ended sharply lower on Friday but off lows as traders covered shorts at crucial support levels. Banks , IT and metals ended with maximum losses.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 2745.40, down 43.95 points or 1.58 per cent. The index held on to its major support of 2700 and bounced back from lows of 2709.30.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 8850.02, down 192.61 points or 2.13 per cent. The 30-share index hit an intra-day low of 8762.58 and a high of 8943.78.

BSE Midcap Index was down 1.56 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index slipped 1.60 per cent.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Bankex was down 3.32 per cent, BSE IT Index fell 2.67 per cent and BSE Metal Index tripped 2.39 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki (0.76%), ACC (0.44%) and DLF (0.1%) were the only gainers in the 30-share index.

ICICI Bank (-7.03%), Reliance Communications (-4.39%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-3.62%), Tata Consultancy Services (-3.05%) and Reliance Industries (-2.99%) were the losers.

Market breadth was negative on the BSE 1627 declines and 784 advances.

European markets extended losses as FTSE 100 declined 2.84 per cent, DAX fell 3.53 per cent and CAC 40 plunged 3.53 per cent.

(All the figures are provisional)