Sensex down for 3rd day in a row

Amidst weak global cues and increased capital outflows, the benchmark Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange extended the losses for the third day in a row by closing down by nearly 20 points after a volatile trade. 

Aggressive selling in the blue-chip stocks such as HDFC, ICICI Bank, M&M, Reliance Infra, SBI and few others mainly weighed against the market sentiment. Heavyweight Reliance, Industries, on other hand, snapped two days of losses and ended in the green.

Banking and consumer durable counters attracted profit booking, while realty and refinery shares were in keen demand, preventing major fall in the sensex.

In a see-saw trade, the BSE barometer fell below the psychologically important 9,000 level for the second day as it plunged to day's low of of 8922.31. It managed to bounce back to a high of 9,113.92. 

However, the bellwether index again fell back to settle the day at 9,015.18, a mere fall of 19.82 points or 0.22 per cent from its previous close.

The bellwether index had lost massive 600 points in the last two sessions due to disappointing interim Budget. However, the broad-based Nifty of the National Stock
Exchange edged up by 5.65 points or 0.20 per cent to 2,776.15 from its last close.

Traders attributed fag end weakness in local markets to lower opening in European indices following overnight fall on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average and  Nasdaq Composite index tumbled by 3.79 per cent and 4.15 per cent.

Worsening global economic conditions and fears over the health of financial sector considering regional manufacturing data mainly weighed against the US markets.

Brokers on BSE said rising fiscal deficit and pledging a part of their share holdings by some companies to meet their financial needs were also of great concerns investors.

Mortgage lender HDFC dropped by 4.76 per cent, the worst among all Sensex stocks. Private sector lender ICICI Bank also lost 4.29 per cent, while M&M was the second biggest loser at 4.74 per cent.

REL Infra at 3.41 per cent and SBI at 2.69 per cent were the other major losers in the elite club.

On the other hand, DLF firmed up by 7.34 per cent. Auto major Maruti Suzuki surged by 4.39 per cent and cement firm ACC 3.19 per cent.

RIL, which had been on slide in the past two straight days, cut short the loses by posting a gain of 2.14 per cent. NTPC at 1.38 per cent and Bharti Airtel at 1.34 per cent also figured among the prominent gainers.

The total market breadth was, however, distinctly weak as 1,772 shares ended with losses while 682 gained on the BSE.

The trading volume remained low but relative higher at Rs 2,883.85 crore from Rs 2,392.06 crore on Tuesday. RIL remained the active share with the highest turnover of Rs 250.88 crore followed by Educomp Sol (Rs 232.51 crore).

Reflecting a fall in banking and consumer durable counters, the sectorial Bankex tumbled by 103.88 points or 2.27 per cent and the BSE-CD by 27.07 points or 1.70 per cent.

However, the BSE-Realty index rose by 45.99 points or 3.18 per cent and the BSE-Oil&Gas by 84.72 points or 1.39 per cent.