Weakness in Asian markets and Indian ADRs coupled with caution ahead of earning reports pulled the market sharply lower today as well. A late rebound, however, was witnessed in IT and cement pivotals.
The weakness accentuated after the Nifty broke the key support level of 3,900.
The provisional closing of the Sensex was 13,378.95, a fall of 187.38 points for the day. Short-covering at the fag end of the trading session saw the Sensex recoup a bit of the lost ground, after the barometer index plunged as many as 229.81 points, to a low of 13,336.52 at 15:05 IST.
The S&P CNX Nifty lost 1.5% to 3,850.30.
Energy scrips dragged Asian shares lower on Wednesday, after crude oil prices fell to an 18-month low on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 1.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 1.6%. Nymex crude was down 69 cents at $54.95.
Selling was conspicuous in banking shares. ICICI Bank, with a 9.3% weigtage in the Sensex, lost 3% to Rs 883. SBI lost 3.3% to Rs 1135.
HDFC Bank was down 1.5% to Rs 998. HDFC Bank unveils Q3 results tomorrow. Five brokerages have forecast between 27.4 - 31.8% growth in HDFC Bank’s Q3 December 2006 net profit, between Rs 285.90 crore and Rs 295.90 crore, compared to a net profit of Rs 224.40 crore in Q3 December 2005.
ONGC lost 3% to Rs 890. Newly-listed Cairn India lost nearly 3% to Rs 133.55. A massive 75.7 lakh shares changed hands in Cairn India.
PSU power equipment major Bhel plunged 4.5% to Rs 2146. The stock was the biggest loser from among the 30-Sensex scrips.
Telecom scrips ran out of steam. Reliance Communications shed 3.5% to Rs 408 despite reports of 1.4 million new mobile subscribers in December 2006. Bharti Airtel shed 2% to Rs 611.
Wipro led an intra-day rebound in IT shares. It rose 2.2% to Rs 594. Satyam Computer gained 0.03% to Rs 467.90, off the session’s low of Rs 456.
Infosys ended just 0.2% down to Rs 2185.70, off the session’s low of Rs 2158. Infosys announces Q3 results tomorrow. Eight brokerages have predicted between 4.1 - 7.3% sequential growth in Infosys’ Q3 consolidated net profit, between Rs 973.50 crore and Rs 996.70 crore, compared to a net profit of Rs 929 crore in Q2 September 2006. These brokerages expect between 5.7 - 10.7% sequential growth in Infosys’ consolidated sales, between Rs 3646.60 crore and Rs 3819.20 crore, compared to net sales of Rs 3451 crore in Q2 September 2006.
However, TCS (down 1.7% to Rs 1234) lost heavily.
Cement shares, too, staged an intra-day recovery. Gujarat Ambuja Cements ended 0.3% down at Rs 139, off the session’s low of Rs 136.10. Grasim lost 0.6% to Rs 2809, off the session’s low of Rs 2757.50.
Reliance Industries shed 0.7% to Rs 1271.50.