After a stellar session on Friday which took the India market to 14-month peaks, frontline indices witnessed some profit booking today.
A slew of measures unleashed by the government over the last couple of weeks saw some investor confidence return to the Indian market.
After a positive opening, the main Indian indices shed their gains and ended reasonably lower.
Global markets too were not supportive at the start of this week.
Asian markets fell today amid concerns about escalating territorial dispute between Japan and China. A stronger yen was also weighing on Japanese exporters. China’s benchmark index hit the lowest level since January 2009 after a central bank adviser said that the economic slowdown may extend into next year.
But, the Shanghai Composite index managed to reverse an early decline and fresh multi-year low to trade up 0.3%. Indices in Japan and Australia fell by ~0.5% each. The Kospi in South Korea ended flat. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down 0.2%.
European stock indices fell in opening trade today after a German magazine reported that Greece faces a 20 billion euros (US$26bn) budget shortfall. Also, adding pressure was the fact that Germany and France were not agreeing on when to introduce a banking union for the euro-area.
The FTSE, CAC and DAX lost between 0.6% and 1.3%.
Investors will be keenly watching out for a possible bailout request from Spain and US economic data.
BSE Sensex: 5,669 down 0.4%
NSE Nifty: 18,673 down 0.4%
The broader market indices too pared their gains from intraday highs but managed to close with decent gains. The BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.3% while the BSE Small-Cap index finished up 0.85%.
Sectoral indexes were mixed in today’s session. Power, Realty, Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, Auto, Bankex and Metals were the gainers. Meanwhile, FMCG, Oil&Gas, PSU, Tech, Pharma and IT were the laggards.
BHEL, Jindal Steel, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, R Infra, Siemens, IDFC, JP Associates, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Sun Pharma and HDFC Bank were the top gainers on the Sensex and the Nifty.
HDFC, ONGC, SAIL, ITC, HUL, Power Grip Corp, HCL Tech, RIL, Ranbaxy Labs, PNB and Cipla were the top losers on both indexes.
Punjab Alkalies & Chemicals was locked at the 20% upper circuit at Rs.29.75 on news that Punjab State Industrial Development was planning to sell its 44.26% stake in the former.
United Spirits advanced 6% to Rs.1,054 as reports cited source based information that Diageo Plc may buy a stake in the beverages company.
Reliance Mediaworks surged 12.9% to Rs.77.30 after its joint venture with Galloping Horse America LLC won the bid for certain businesses and assets of Digital Domain Media Group for $30.2mn.
Tata Power reversed earlier gains to close at Rs.103.20, up 0.5%, after its co-owner of two mines in Indonesia, Bumi Resources, was facing a probe by Bumi Plc over alleged financial irregularities. London-listed coal miner Bumi Plc holds 30% in Bumi resources. Meanwhile, Bumi Resources owns a 70% stake in Indonesian mines KPC and Arutmin, which run Indonesia's richest coal mines. Tata Power owns the remaining 30%.