Sensex down 21 points; falls for third day on selling pressure

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex erased mid-session gains and fell for the third consecutive day to 19,537, down 21 points, on selling pressure amid high global oil prices.

Meanwhile, further easing of food inflation to 4-month low wasn't a strong enough positive for investors to sustain intra-day gains.

The 30-share BSE index, Sensex, initially fell to day's low of 19,537.02 as investors booked profits amid apprehensions of a hike in interest rates as crude oil prices hover at 2-1/2-year highs.

It recovered to 19,665.09 on fresh buying in realty, capital goods, healthcare, banking and metal amid the release of food inflation data, showing a declining trend. However, it ended the day at 19,591,18 -- a loss of 21.02 points or 0.11% from its last close.

Food inflation fell to 9.18% for the week ended March 26, the lowest level in almost four months, on the back of a decline in the prices of pulses.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved down by 6.05 points or 0.10% to finish at 5,885.70.

IT pivotals dropped as investors felt that a firming rupee could dent guidance on software exports in the coming quarters. A firm rupee adversely affects operating profit margins of IT firms as the sector derives majority share of its revenue from exports.

Metal stocks rose as prices rose on the London Metal Exchange yesterday. Banking stocks also ended higher on expectation of good Q4 results.

"High crude oil prices, eurozone debt worries and growing speculation of a rate hike... dampened the sentiment. IT, Oil & Gas and Telecom stocks were among the major laggards," IIFL Head of Research (India Private Clients) Amar Ambani said. Among the sectoral indices, the BSE-IT index moved down by 0.71%, the BSE-oil&gas by 0.49%, the BSE-teck by 0.42% and the BSE-PSU by 0.31%.

However, the BSE-Realty index shot up by 1.12%, the BSE - capital goods by 0.53%, the BSE - healthcare by 0.42%, the Bankex by 0.25% and BSE - metal by 0.14%.

Small-cap and mid-cap indices also finished higher by 1.25% and 0.98% respectively.

Major losers from the Sensex pack were NTPC 2.61%, ONGC 2.10%, TCS 2%, Maruti Suzukui 1.20% and Sterlite Ind 1.16%.

However, HDFC shot up by 2.31%, Hindalco 1.79%, Wipro 1.21%, Bharti Airtel 0.92% and Tata Power 0.92%.

The total market breadth continued to be strong as 1,911 stocks finishing with gains while 1,020 stocks ending with losses on BSE in view of renewed buying mainly in Small cap and mid-cap shares.

The total turnover fell to Rs3,509.62 crore from the yesterday's closing of Rs3,949.60 crore. TTK prestige showed the highest turnover of Rs99.31 crore, followed by State Bank Of India (93.31 crore), Lovable Lingerie (Rs90.04 crore), BF Utilities (Rs73.58 crore) and Unitech (Rs49.28 crore).