Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Sensex ends losing streak

MUMBAI: The markets reversed its five-session losing streak with a 68-point gain for the BSE sensex to 18,091 on Wednesday, but the day's session witnessed strong selling in late hours when the news broke that A Raja was arrested by CBI. In less than one-and-half hours of trade, the sensex lost nearly 250 points, what could otherwise have been a strong reversal for the index after it lost over 1,100 points between January 25 and February 1. Market players said the arrest of the scandal-stricken former minister, from the Tamil Nadu-based UPA ally DMK party, could lead to tension within the ruling coalition. The arrest could also lead to slide in the stocks of companies which are the new entrants in the country's telecom space after they got 2G spectrum during Raja's tenure as the telecom minister, they said.

On Wednesday, among the telecom stocks of leading companies, while Bharti Airtel rallied 2.8% to close at 323, Reliance Communications lost 1.1% to Rs 117, after touching a new low of Rs 115.85 in intra-day trade, and Idea closed 3.5% higher at Rs 69. Stocks of Unitech, which has a substantial stake in telecom operator Uninor, closed 5.1% higher at Rs 45, while DB realty, which has a stake in Swan Telecom, closed flat at Rs 151. Dealers said these stocks will be closely watched when markets open on Thursday. Given the political situation at the Centre with the opposition forcing complete shutdown of business in the parliament over government's refusal to agree to a joint parliamentary probe into the spectrum muddle, it would also be interesting how investors react to the recent developments.

Wednesday's gains were helped by subsiding FII selling, with the net outflow at Rs 82 crore, compared to Rs 1,037 crore on Tuesday., BSE data showed. Among the sensex stocks, Tata Motors closed 3.9% higher at Rs 1,111 while index heavyweight RIL gained 2.9% to Rs 921. Among the laggards were Hero Honda, down 5.3% at Rs 1,523 and BHEL, down 2.7% at Rs 2,138. Of the 30 sensex constituents, 13 closed higher while 17 ended in the red. In the broader market, the number of winners at 1,421 were slightly more than the number of laggards, at 1,382. At the close of session, investors were richer by Rs 29,000 crore with BSE's market capitalisation now at Rs 65.4 lakh crore.

TOI

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