Auto, FMCG, realty lead 400 point fall

A late sell-off, today ended with a deep fall of nearly 400 points on the BSE bellwether, the Sensex.

The index dipped 389.80 points or 2.45% to close at Rs.15514.03. Health care saw a fall of 0.69% and was the outperformer among the sectoral indices. Oil and Gas and the Bankex (which tracks banking indices) dropped 1.58% and 1.67% respectively. The auto sector lost its brakes on a down-hill track, FMCG fast moved into negative territory and Realty’s losses were large enough to knock off a land-bank or two. These three sectors formed the bottom of the sectoral indices falling from 3% to 5%.

The NSE fell 108.65 points to close at 4585.50. Only six of the fifty companies that comprise the Nifty index managed to stay positive while the rest of them slipped into gloom. 

Sun Pharma (closing at Rs.1199.80) rose 1.60%, BPCL rose 1.39% to close at Rs.507.95 while Cairn dropped 1% to close at Rs.242.45.  TataCom and Cipla showed marginal losses to close at Rs.493.10 and Rs.275.75 respectively.

Tata Motors headed the chart of the days’s fallen stocks. It  went down 6.96% to close at Rs.418.40. Hindalco (closing at Rs.103.50) was down 6.63%. Maruti fell Rs.77 to close at Rs. 1364.70, a drop of 5.34%. Hero Honda was down 5.19% and Sterlite 4.84% to close at Rs.1520.60 and Rs.647.95.

“A significant upside remains unlikely in the light of current valuations. 4750 on the Nifty which is equivalent to 16,000 on the Sensex, is acting as a strong resistance,” said Saurav Arora, senior vice president, Jaypee Capital.