Volatility grips market; Sensex ends 2% lower

MUMBAI: Key indices ended an extremely volatile session of trade on a negative note. Second rung shares were beaten down badly. Among sectors, metals took the sharpest knock, followed by power and capital goods.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex settled at provisional 17,209.33, down 2.19 per cent or 384.74 points, sliding from an intra-day high of 18,185.10. The low was 17,070.05.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty provisionally ended 3.24 per cent or 168.45 points lower at 5034.95. Intra-day, the index swung between a high of 5357.20 and low of 4995.80.

Equities began trade sharply higher, extending Wednesday’s gains, taking cues from rise in global markets. Early gains in real estate, energy and FMCG heavyweights added over two per cent to the benchmarks.

Soon after, equities came off the highs of the day as traders booked profits at higher levels. Mid- and small-cap stocks led the declines, while most blue chips managed to hold gains.

By noon, selling pressure intensified shaving nearly 3 per cent off the benchmarks. People used the morning’s rise to unwind long positions in futures and options contracts. Also, brokers were not executing trades for clients unable to make upfront payments, resulting in very little fresh buying.

Towards the fag end of the session frontline shares recovered partial losses tracking the rise in European markets. Sentiment in Europe turned optimistic after traders of credit-default swaps said the risk of European companies defaulting on their debt fell today. The FTSE was up 3.31 per cent, the DAX added 4.94 per cent and the CAC rose 3.9 per cent

Biggest index losers were Reliance Energy (down 9.18%), NTPC (9.03%), Hindalco Industries (6.19%), Larsen & Toubro (5.84%) and ONGC (5.03%)

HDFC (up 3.27%), Satyam Computer (1.78%), Reliance Communications (1.27%), ACC (1.13%) and State Bank of India (1.11%) were the major gainers.

The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap Index ended 3.03 per cent and 3.85 per cent respectively.

Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company (down 12.07%), Lanco Infra (11.62%), Birla Corporation (11.26%), Bank of India (11.01%), Bombay Dyeing (10.73%) and Hindustan Zinc (10.29%) topped the list of mid-cap losers.

Market breadth on BSE showed 2,333 declines against 385 advances, while on NSE 1,003 shares declined and 213 advanced.