Radhika Kamath

SELLING pressure across index heavyweights, fall in ADR price and selling spree by FIIs dragged the markets down, putting an end to the seven-day bull rally. While the Sensex was down 44.2 points, Nifty lost 4 points.

On Monday, the markets opened on a cautious note and witnessed range-bound trading.

The Sensex opened 10 points lower than its previous close, reached an intra-day low of 6642.6, while closing at 6663.6.

The S&P CNX Nifty also opened on a flat note at 2076.5, reached a low of 2064.9, and closed at 2072.4.

The bears were active for most part of the day, as the markets remained depressed, which was reflected in the advances to declines ratio of 0.4.

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While most of the large-cap stocks succumbed to the bear attack, the mid-cap and small-cap stocks also bore the brunt of selling pressure.

In the early hours of trade, capital goods and tech stocks witnessed heavy selling pressure.

SKF India was a major loser whose stock was down 10.1 per cent. Greaves Cotton, Gammon India, L&T, Alstom, BEML and Dredging Corporation also suffered losses.

HMT was a significant gainer whose stock was up 4.3 per cent.

Following the announcement of setting up of a Greenfield power factory at an investment of Rs 150 crore, Siemens shot up 1 per cent to close at Rs 2003.2

The fall in the ADR price of Infosys kept the stock subdued. Ramco, Satyam, Wipro, Hexaware and Geometric Software also came in for sharp losses.

TCS was the only significant gainer, which was up 3.9 per cent. Patni Computer, Polaris and NIIT recorded moderate gains.

Pharma stocks, which had put up a great show last week, also saw some correction. Pfizer, Elder Pharma, Sun Pharma, Matrix Labs, Nicholas Piramal and Aurobindo Pharma remained weak.

However, there was selective buying interest among the stocks of Dr Reddy's, Shasun Chemicals, Novartis, Aventis Pharma and Glenmark Pharma.

Mixed trading took place across the counters of metal stocks. Sesa Goa surged 2.2 per cent, while Jindal Vijaynagar, Monnet Ispat and SAIL recorded marginal gains.

Kalyani Steels was the biggest loser, which shed 4.5 per cent. Hindalco, Hindustan Zinc, Bhushan Steel and Strips, Tata Steel, Ispat and National Aluminium ended in the red.

Selective buying interest prevailed among the FMCG stocks. HLL was up 4.6 per cent after the company raised the prices of its shampoos by 10 per cent. Shaw Wallace and Nirma also gained 8.5 and 8.2 per cent respectively. Marico, Nestle, Dabur India and Britannia also ruled firm.

Although the bears were widespread across sectors, their impact on the banking stocks was more pronounced.

Bank of India and ICICI Bank were down 2. 2 per cent on an average. Andhra Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, UTI Bank, Canara Bank, SBI, Oriental Bank and Union Bank ended in the negative territory.

Profit booking among select auto stocks kept the markets depressed during most part of the day. M&M was down 1.6 per cent at Rs.494.9.The company announced a rise of 4.8 per cent in its Q4 net income which is the slowest pace in two years.

Tata Motors, Hero Honda, Maruti, Sundaram Fasteners, Ashok Leyland, EAT and MRF witnessed selling pressure.

Select oil and gas stocks managed to stay out of the bear run. Bullish sentiment was prevalent among the frontline oil stocks.

IOC, ONGC, BPCL, HPCL and Gujarat Gas ended with smart gains. However, GAIL, Chennai Petroleum, Hindustan Oil Exploration and Petronet LNG stayed weak.

Other notable losers on the Nifty were Apollo Tyres, Arvind Mills, Container Corporation, GE Shipping, IVRCL, Pantaloon Retail, TVS Motors and VSNL.

Those that gained significantly included Cipla, Tata Chemicals, ABB, Madras Cements, Punjab Tractors, Alfa Laval, HMT, Reliance Energy and Balaji Telefilms.

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