Markets end with marginal losses; RIL dips by 4%

After struggling for direction, the Indian markets closed the session with modest losses. Sensex closed the session 58 points lower and Nifty ended 14 points lower.

Major headlines

HDFC Q2 net profit up 20%

Zee Entertainment Q2 cons net profit jumps 27%

Nelcast jumps on strong Q2 results

NIIT rises after divestment in subsidiary

Cairn India jumps as crude oil prices rise

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Indian indices

It was an extremely volatile day for markets and the session closed on a negative note. Heavyweights like RIL, L&T, NTPC, TCS, Bharti Airtel, BHEL and wipro continued to drag the markets. Positive global cues failed to lift the sentiments as persistent selling pressure in oil & gas, capital goods, power, PSU, technology, metal and healthcare stocks pushed markets lower.

Sensex movements

The Sensex began the day 93 points higher at 17176 and quickly touched the day's high of 17189. After opening in green, the index soon witnessed volatility amid volatile sessions of trade. Continuous sell-off in oil & gas, capital goods, power, PSU, technology, metal and healthcare stocks led the index to hit the day's low of 16928 in early afternoon trade. The Sensex fell 58 points to shut at 17025 and the Nifty closed at Rs5118, down by 14 points.

Market sentiment:

The market breadth stood in favour of declines. Of the 2878 stocks traded on the BSE, 1320 (45.87%) rose, 1432 (49.76%) fell and 126 (4.38%) stocks remained unchanged.

Viewing volumes:

An infrastructure development and construction company in India - IRB Infrastructure Developers was traded the most with over 0.65 crore shares changing hands on the BSE. An Indian infrastructure development company - Jaypee Infratech (0.45 crore shares), India's largest automobile company - Tata Motors (0.44 crore shares), an Industrial finance company - IFCI (0.21 crore shares) and Indian shipbuilder - Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company (0.21 crore shares).

Sectoral & stock screening:

Among the 13 sectoral indices, eight indices closed the session in negative territory, while remaining five closed in positive. Top Gainers: BSE Auto rose by 1.58%, BSE CD surged by 1.50%, BSE Bankex advanced by 0.60%. Top Losers: BSE Oil & Gas fell by 2.29%, BSE CG declined by 1.37%, BSE Power down by 1.18%.

In 'A' group stocks - Jaypee Infratech surged by 19.76%, Jaiprakash Power Ventures rose by 5.32% and Petronet LNG advanced by 5.13%. On the other side - Indian Oil Corporation declined by 4.30%, Reliance Industries fell by 3.88% and JSW Steel down by 3.71%.

Global Indices:

The European stock markets surged on Monday, on hopes that European leaders have vowed to their G-20 partners to take swift and decisive action on tackling the European debt crisis.

The Asian stock markets rose on Monday, on the back of positive U.S. economic data and on hopes that Europe will come up with a plan to contain its debt crisis.

The US stock index futures pointed to a higher open for equities on Wall Street on Monday (October 17, 2011).