Relentless selling sees Sensex slip below 13500

The report card of the nation's economy, the Economic Survey 2006-07 was tabled today before the Parliament. The survey cautioned the government to arrest the rising prices and pursue policies that would ensure a 9% growth in the economy. This triggered a major fall in the market. The Sensex began the trading session at 13703 but succumbed to substantial selling and slipped only to recover in mid-morning trades. However, the market once again slipped into the red on the weakness in the heavyweight, fast moving consumer goods, banking and auto stocks that dragged the index to an intra-day low of 13409, down 294 points form the day's high. The Sensex managed to erase some losses and closed at 13479, down 171 points. The Nifty shed 48 points and closed at 3894.

The broader market was strong. Of the 2,597 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,330 stocks advanced, 1,205 stocks declined and 62 stocks ended unchanged. All the sectoral indices ended in negative territory. The BSE FMCG index dropped 1.92% at 1777, the BSE Bankex shed 1.58% at 6695 and the BSE IT index was down 1.39% at 5172.

Among the major losers Hero Honda dropped 3.64% at Rs680, ICICI Bank slumped 3.34% at Rs876, Bajaj Auto shed 3.18% at Rs2,724, ITC lost 3.05% at Rs165, Satyam Computers declined 2.38% at Rs450 and Tata Motors slipped 2.14% at Rs822. However, HDFC Bank notched up gains of 2.58% at Rs976, ACC rose 1.60% at Rs961 and Maruti added 1.53% at Rs888. Ranbaxy, Reliance Communications, NTPC and Dr Reddy's closed with marginal gains.

FMCG stocks came under sharp selling pressure. United Spirits tumbled 3.76% at Rs785, Tata Tea slipped 2.49% at Rs637, HLL slumped 1.98% at Rs185 and Bata India fell 1.36% at Rs163. United Breweries and Dabur India closed with losses of around 1% each.

Over 35.47 lakh India Cements shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Reliance Industries (32.98 lakh shares), Reliance Capital (32.20 lakh shares), Polaris (29.17 lakh shares) and SAIL (27.09 lakh shares).

Value-wise JSW Steel registered a turnover of Rs163 crore on the BSE followed by Power Finance Corporation (Rs126 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs118 crore), Tata Steel (Rs87 crore) and Reliance Communications (Rs74 crore).