Sensex falls 286 points, Nifty ends near 5900 on F&O expiry

MUMBAI, July 25 (Economic Times): The Nifty witnessed sharp selling pressure towards the end of session and closed above support of 5,900 on the last day of July series expiry.

All the major sectoral indices, barring auto space, closed in the red with FMCG, metals and pharmaceuticals leading the fall.

The 50-share index ended at 5,907.5, down 83 points or 1.39 per cent. It touched a high of 5,990.65 and a low of 5,896.40 in trade today.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed at 19,804.76, down 285.92 points or 1.42 per cent. It touched a high of 20,110.81 and a low of 19,763.90 in trade today.

The S&P BSE Midcap Index was down 0.87 per cent and BSE S&P Smallcap Index slipped 0.68 per cent.

The S&P BSE FMCG Index fell 3.31 per cent, the S&P BSE Metal Index was down 1.76 per cent, the S&P BSE Healthcare Index declined 1.49 per cent and the S&P BSE Capital Goods Index was down 1.38 per cent.

The S&P BSE Auto Index was up 0.08 per cent.

Ambuja Cements (10.62 per cent), Jaiprakash Associates (9.31 per cent), ITC (4.74 per cent), HUL (3.66 per cent) and Tata Power (3.41 per cent) were among the major Nifty losers.

Ambuja Cements and ACC tanked after Swiss cement maker Holcim said it will increase stake in Ambuja Cements Ltd from 50 per cent to 61.39 per cent as part of restructuring its Indian operations.

The deal also involves Ambuja Cements buying Holcim's 50.01 per cent stake in ACC.

"We downgrade Ambuja Cements to 'Neutral' from 'BUY' and have also slashed its target price from Rs 245 earlier to Rs 195," BofA-ML said in a report. "The deal adds to woes of minority shareholders of Ambuja Cements," added the report.

Shares of Jaiprakash Associates plunged 10 per cent intraday after a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam rejected its plea on deferred payment of Rs 1.0 billion as penalty fined by the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

Shares of FMCG major ITC extended intraday losses on profit booking even as the company reported in-line net profit for the quarter ended June 2013. According to analysts, the lower -than -expected sales and concerns of volume degrowth in cigarettes were pulling down the stock

Hero MotoCorp (4.41 per cent), Asian Paints (2.29 per cent), BPCL (1.22 per cent), Tata Motors (0.91 per cent) and Axis Bank (0.43 per cent) were among the gainers.

Shares of oil marketing companies such as BPCL and HPCL gained momentum in trade as sentiment turned bullish after the rupee appreciated against the US dollar for second consecutive day.

Shares of two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp gained momentum in trade after the company reported better than expected operating margins in Q1FY14 results. Brokerages have upgraded the stock and revised target price on expectations that the company would benefit from better margins in next couple of years.

The market breadth was negative on the NSE with 376 gainers against 796 losers.

The foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 4.05 billion while domestic institutional investors were net sellers worth Rs 3.29 billion on last Tuesday as per the provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.
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