Sensex Down By 250 Points Over Early Election Speculations

The Indian markets saw a sell-off in the last hour of trade as BJP Leader L K Advani hinted at early elections in 2013. At the end of the day, Nifty closed with a loss of 75 points at 5672 and Sensex closed at 18,777, up by 265 points. Both the indices ended in red with a loss of 1.3%-1.38%.

The advance–decline ratio ended on a negative side at the end of day. On the NSE, 580 shares closed in green and 863 shares closed in red. 

Top 5 Gainers on NSE: Sun Pharma ended up by 1.38% as the top gainer on the NSE, followed by NTPC, Ranbaxy, Tata Power and Lupin.

Top 5 Losers on NSE: DLF ended the day as the top loser on NSE, down by 4.1%, followed by NMDC, Bank of Baroda, Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors. 

All the sectors ended in red. Realty, Auto, Metals, Capital Goods and Bank ended on a negative note. All these sectors were down by 1.5%. 

The Asian markets closed on a mixed note, apart from Japan’s Nikkei 255, which was the top gainer among the Asian indices and closed at 12,360, up by 358 points. China’s Shanghai Composite closed flat with a negative bias. 

Buzzers: NMDC was down by 4.5% at Rs 130 as the iron ore producer cut the prices of some grades of the steel-making ingredient for the third time in 2013 as domestic demand slumped and the shares declined.

Tata Motors was down by 3.7% at Rs 257. Its passenger cars saw a 67% sales decline in March 2013 and a 30% decline for FY 12-13. The stock broke its support level and closed below Rs 260. If this continues, we will see a further downmove below these levels. 

The market has broken stiff resistance around the levels of 5710-5685. If the Nifty sustains below these levels, we will see a further downmove.