MUMBAI: The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, closed weak for the second successive session on Thursday, as investors continued to lock in profits, following a 10.5% rally in the market this month.
Traders said weakness in the European and the US equities markets weighed on domestic investors’ sentiments, while trade across Asia was thin with Japan, China, Hong Kong and South Korea closed for a holiday.
Energy major Reliance Industries (RIL), which weighs the most on the Sensex, fell 2.1%, as there were no immediate positive triggers in sight, dealers said.
The 30-share BSE index dropped 0.4%, or 80.71 points, to 19861.01, with 17 of its components closing in the red and one ending flat. The index briefly rose as much as 0.3% in early trade. “We have been expecting a correction for some time. It has come now. One should take it in stride as one did the rise,” said Gajendra Nagpal, chief executive at Unicon Financial Intermediaries.
“This is part of the consolidation process. The market will find support sooner rather than later, maybe in 10 sessions.” Domestic institutions and retail investors were taking advantage of these high levels to book profits, he added.
The benchmark index scaled 20000 points on Tuesday, for the first time in 32 months, and had begun to show signs of fatigue in the past two sessions as investors look to book profits. Optimism over India’s growth has seen overseas investors pouring in $4.4 billion in September alone. “When will the foreign money stop coming in? That’s the big
question,” said Ambareesh Baliga, vice-president at Karvy stock Broking.
“It is like a self fulfilling prophecy — because the money is coming in, the market is going up and because the market is going up, the money is coming in.” Foreign fund inflows this year look on course to set a new record. Net foreign portfolio investments this year, have already hit $17.3 billion, adding to a record $17.5 billion in 2009, which had sparked an 81% rally in the benchmark.
Banking stocks, which had shown strength in the recent rally, corrected with top lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank closing down 0.2% and 2.3%, respectively. HDFC Bank and mortgage lender HDFC lost 0.6%.
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers by a ratio of 1.1-to-1 on volume of 463 million shares. The 50-share NSE index Nifty fell 0.5% to 5959.55 points. Elsewhere, the FTSEurofirst 300 index dipped 0.7% by 1205 GMT, while futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were down between 0.5% to 0.7%.
However, Oil and Natural Gas Corp rose 1.5% after the state-owned explorer said it had begun shale gas exploration by drilling the first well in eastern India. Ranbaxy Laboratories firmed 1.5% after a newspaper reported the drugmaker has won a court battle to sell its copy of US-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co’s anti-hepatitis B drug, baraclude.
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers by a ratio of 1.1-to-1 on volume of 463 million shares. The 50-share NSE index Nifty fell 0.5% to 5959.55 points. Elsewhere, the FTSEurofirst 300 index dipped 0.7% by 1205 GMT, while futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were down between 0.5% to 0.7%.
ET
Traders said weakness in the European and the US equities markets weighed on domestic investors’ sentiments, while trade across Asia was thin with Japan, China, Hong Kong and South Korea closed for a holiday.
Energy major Reliance Industries (RIL), which weighs the most on the Sensex, fell 2.1%, as there were no immediate positive triggers in sight, dealers said.
The 30-share BSE index dropped 0.4%, or 80.71 points, to 19861.01, with 17 of its components closing in the red and one ending flat. The index briefly rose as much as 0.3% in early trade. “We have been expecting a correction for some time. It has come now. One should take it in stride as one did the rise,” said Gajendra Nagpal, chief executive at Unicon Financial Intermediaries.
“This is part of the consolidation process. The market will find support sooner rather than later, maybe in 10 sessions.” Domestic institutions and retail investors were taking advantage of these high levels to book profits, he added.
The benchmark index scaled 20000 points on Tuesday, for the first time in 32 months, and had begun to show signs of fatigue in the past two sessions as investors look to book profits. Optimism over India’s growth has seen overseas investors pouring in $4.4 billion in September alone. “When will the foreign money stop coming in? That’s the big
question,” said Ambareesh Baliga, vice-president at Karvy stock Broking.
“It is like a self fulfilling prophecy — because the money is coming in, the market is going up and because the market is going up, the money is coming in.” Foreign fund inflows this year look on course to set a new record. Net foreign portfolio investments this year, have already hit $17.3 billion, adding to a record $17.5 billion in 2009, which had sparked an 81% rally in the benchmark.
Banking stocks, which had shown strength in the recent rally, corrected with top lenders State Bank of India and ICICI Bank closing down 0.2% and 2.3%, respectively. HDFC Bank and mortgage lender HDFC lost 0.6%.
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers by a ratio of 1.1-to-1 on volume of 463 million shares. The 50-share NSE index Nifty fell 0.5% to 5959.55 points. Elsewhere, the FTSEurofirst 300 index dipped 0.7% by 1205 GMT, while futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were down between 0.5% to 0.7%.
However, Oil and Natural Gas Corp rose 1.5% after the state-owned explorer said it had begun shale gas exploration by drilling the first well in eastern India. Ranbaxy Laboratories firmed 1.5% after a newspaper reported the drugmaker has won a court battle to sell its copy of US-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co’s anti-hepatitis B drug, baraclude.
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers by a ratio of 1.1-to-1 on volume of 463 million shares. The 50-share NSE index Nifty fell 0.5% to 5959.55 points. Elsewhere, the FTSEurofirst 300 index dipped 0.7% by 1205 GMT, while futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were down between 0.5% to 0.7%.
ET
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