Tech, oil dent indices

Taking a cue from mostly weak world markets, sustained selling pressure coupled with lack of buying interest dragged the markets down on Monday with volumes being low. The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed below the 6400 level even as investors' expectation has been building up over corporate results. Investors sold technology, oil, consumer durables and banking counters, which were among the biggest losers on Monday. Brokers said that the market is expected to remain rangebound, awaiting fresh impetus. They are hoping that the results season will provide the much awaited direction. Opening in negative territory, the BSE Sensex hit a low of 6382.13 in intra-day trades before closing at 6397.52, down 82.02 points (1.27 per cent) from Friday's close. In the BSE Sensex basket, 24 out of the 30 scrips closed lower. The breadth of the market was also negative, with losers outpacing gainers 15:8. Volumes were lower than on Friday in the cash segment of the bourses; the BSE reported a turnover of Rs 1,527.69 crore and the NSE reported a turnover of Rs 3,078.90 crore. Volumes were lower as investors await some impetus before taking fresh buy calls, analysts said. The two new indices, the BSE Mid-Cap index fell by 0.94 per cent and the BSE Small-Cap index also closed lower, down 0.84 per cent. A dealer at Centrum Securities said, “Some volatility is expected going ahead as investors factor in company results. There will be some selling as players prefer sitting on cash, looking ahead to the April earnings season for direction.” Technology stocks were among the worst hit ahead of the start of the corporate results season. Some analysts were of the opinion that the recent correction was actually to factor in any negatives in the Q4 results and there may be a rally post results season. The Bharti Tele-Ventures counter was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 2.35 per cent to close at Rs 208.05, followed by Maruti Udyog, down 2.36 per cent to Rs 401.85, L&T fell by 2.38 per cent to Rs 958.55, Satyam was down 2.61 per cent to Rs 400.80 and ICICI Bank (ICBK.BO, news) fell 2.77 per cent to Rs 394.25. Sensex basket gainers included the HDFC Bank (HDBK.BO, news) scrip, up 2.24 per cent to close at Rs 559.10, Bajaj Auto (BJAT.BO, news) gained 1.26 per cent to Rs 1,066.20, Ranbaxy was up 0.89 per cent to Rs 986.30, BHEL (BHEL.BO, news) was up 0.62 per cent to Rs 782.80, Dr Reddy's gained 0.23 per cent to Rs 746.65 and Gujarat Ambuja Cement was up 0.21 per cent to Rs 404.95. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 54.30 crore on Friday while mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 65.42 crore according to figures on the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) website.

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