IT holds fort as market dips

The markets continued its weak showing today, dropping by 257.31 points or 1.77% on the Sensex and 104.75 or 2.40% on the Nifty. The two indices closed the day's trade at 14265.53 and 4251.40 respectively.
 
IT was the only sector that held its place in the green. The IT index ended 0.17% up while all other indices ended in the red. "The companies are getting their costs in line and also the IT sector was an underperformer during the upsurge," said DD Sharma, Vice President at Anand Rathi Securities, pointing out the reasons for the sectors' resilience.
 
Metal(down 4.88%) and Realty(down 5.80%) were the worst hit amongst the sectoral indices.
 
Experts attribute the fall in the markets to a healthy correction to the rally that was seen after the declaration of the election results.  "This is a short-term correction and some positional unwinding which is taking place. Investors should watch for the budget before investing into the markets," said Rahul Nangalia, CEO of Nangalia Stock Broking. 

The Sensex gained over 3000 points since the declaration of the results before the correction.
 
SBI was the top gainer among the Nifty Fifty gaining 2.46% to close at Rs.1703.30. Hero Honda also rose to close at Rs.1444.45, a gain of 2.35%. Suzlon and Unitech topped the loser's list dropping a tenth of their value. Suzlon closed at Rs.100.05 while Unitech was down eight rupees to close at Rs.76.10
 
The budget is going to be keenly watched by the market for cues and directional calls."The key concerns would be how growth is ensured through encouraging infrastructure development and how the government addresses the fiscal deficit either through divestment or taxation," said Rahul Nangalia.