Nifty Ends Below 5700, RIL Plunges 4.5%

The Indian markets closed in deep red today on the back of weak global sentiments and domestic profit booking following a good uptrend in the previous trading sessions. The indices continued Friday’s weak momentum, though the major sell off came post the opening of the European markets, which plunged by more than 1%. All the sectoral indices closed lower, except for Healthcare which closed higher by 1.2%. Realty, Oil & Gas and Capital Goods were the worst hit, dragging the broader markets southwards.

Further, as per media reports, a ministerial panel today gave a green signal to a proposal to charge mobile phone carriers a one-time fee for their existing second-generation airwave holdings based on a price to be determined by an upcoming auction. The report further added that the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has recommended to the Cabinet that companies be asked to pay for airwaves beyond 4.4 mega hertz at the auction-determined price for the remaining validity of their licence periods.

In Asia, the Hang Seng and Shanghai markets closed lower down 0.90% and 0.57% respectively. The Japanese market Nikkei was closed on account of a public holiday.

The European markets are currently trading in the deep red, with the CAC and DAX lower by 1.19% and 1.36% respectively. FTSE is also trading down by 0.65% at the 5833 levels. Bloomberg reports which said that stocks, commodities and the Ruro dropped as European finance ministers prepared to meet to discuss the region’s debt crisis. The Australian dollar traded at a three-month low and Chinese shares fell after the World Bank forecast slowing growth in East Asia.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading lower by 20 points or 0.15% at 13510, indicating a negative sentiment in the US markets.

Back home, Sensex heavyweight RIL closed down by 4.51% at Rs 818.70 per share, contributing majorly to the markets closing lower. Capital Goods biggies like BHEL and L&T also lost 3.44% and 3.09% respectively. Stocks like SBI, Tata Motors, Tata Power and Wipro closed lower by over 2% each. Others like Bajaj Auto, GAIL India, HDFC Bank, Sterlite Industries etc. closed marginally in the negatives.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma was the leading index gainer, higher by 3.67% at Rs 708.90 per share. Others in the gainers list include Cipla, Jindal Steel, ITC, NTPC and HDFC, all which closed higher marginally.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, remained on the negative side. Out of the 3013 stocks traded on the BSE, 1500 declined, 1373 advanced and 140 remained unchanged.

We expect the markets to remain volatile with a negative bias for tomorrow, and advise our readers to play with caution.