March Expiry Drags Markets Lower

Chandrakant / 29 Mar 2012

After extending their losses in the late afternoon trade, the Indian markets remained volatile and closed in the red zone. Both the Sensex and Nifty closed down by 0.37% and 0.31% respectively.

After extending their losses in the late afternoon trade, the Indian markets remained volatile and closed in the red zone. Weak global cues, concerns over global economic growth, a depreciating rupee and the expiry of the March contract kept the markets volatile and negative. Both the Sensex and Nifty closed down by 0.37% and 0.31% respectively.

Other Asian markets closed on a negative note today. The markets were seen concerned and were dragged down by a weaker-than-expected rise in the US durable goods orders, which sparked fresh concerns about the future trajectory of global growth.

The European markets continue to trade on a flat negative note, and have hit a three-week low, as lower-than-expected US data weighed down investor sentiment over the slowdown in global growth.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 41 points or 0.32% down at 13012, indicating a negative sentiment in the US markets.

Benchmark Indices
IndexClosing% Change
SENSEX 17058.61 -0.37
NIFTY 5178.85 -0.31
Hang Seng  20609.39 -1.34
Nikkei  10114.79 -0.69
Shanghai  2252.16 -0.48
Live
FTSE 5756.06 -0.92
DAX 6916.42 -1.19
CAC 3392.59 -1.11

Back home, among the BSE sectoral indices, Pharma, CD and Auto were the major gainers, closing with gains of 0.92%, 0.88% and 0.67% respectively. Among the major losers were Consumer Goods, IT and Teck, which closed down by 1.61%, 1.17% and 1.01% respectively.

Sectoral Indices
Category/IndexCloseChange(Pts)Change (%)
Broad
MIDCAP 6,200.87 9.93 0.16
SMLCAP 6,496.80 45.31 0.70
BSE-100 8,973.26 -8.00 -0.09
BSE-200 2,111.80 -1.54 -0.07
BSE-500 6,614.89 -2.27 -0.03
Sectors      
HC 6,505.80 59.4 0.92
CD 6,348.46 55.31 0.88
AUTO 9,909.67 65.67 0.67
METAL 11,060.80 43.35 0.39
REALTY 1,731.84 6.07 0.35
OIL&GAS 7,865.47 15.02 0.19
POWER 2,055.46 -2.02 -0.1
PSU 7,127.97 -10.47 -0.15
BANKEX 11,458.67 -17.2 -0.15
FMCG 4,443.47 -29.06 -0.65
TECk 3,492.76 -35.5 -1.01
IT 5,951.18 -70.21 -1.17
CG 9,834.68 -160.54 -1.61

Among the Sensex shares, Hero MotoCorp, Jindal Steel and Tata Power closed with leading gains of 1.5%, 4.42% and 2.99% respectively. Other gainers such as Bajaj Auto, Coal India, DLF, ONGC, Wipro, etc. have closed with gains between 0.50%-1.55%. Of the major losers, Infosys, L&T and TCS closed with losses of 1.78%, 2.09% and 1.71% respectively. All the other stocks ended in the negative territory between 0.24%-1.60%.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, was positive. Out of a total of 3244 stocks traded on the BSE, 1700 advanced, 1438 declined and 106 remained unchanged.

Advance-Decline Table
IndexAdvancesDeclinesUnchanged
BSE 30 14 16 0
BSE 200 97 102 1
BSE 100 50 50 0
BSE 500 271 226 3
Others 1268 1044 102

In conclusion, we expect the markets to remain negative on the back of concerns over the slowdown in global growth. Therefore, we ask investors to remain cautious.

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