Sensex crashes by 208.37 pts; closes at 13,652.15

Mumbai, Jan 8: The Sensex today closed in negative terrain at 13,652.15 with a huge loss of 208.37 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange on sustained heavy selling pressure by Foreign Institutional Investors (FII's) and local investors.

The market ended weak on the back of a sell-off in tech, telecom and autos. However select side-counters surged, and the market breadth remained quite strong.

Weakness in Asian markets and a fall in Indian ADRs on Friday weighed down Indian bourses.

The Sensex's provisional closing was 13,652.15.70, a fall of 208.37 points before it resumed at a low of 13,855.89 points.

The barometer index came off the lower level after having lost as many as 260.65 points, to hit 13,599.87 during the intra day.

The BSE METAL and IT indices were down steeply by 165.32 points and 138.83 points respectively and closed at 8814.53 points for METAL index and for IT Index at 5204.88 points, followed by TECK index by 84.25 point and quoted at 3590.54 points, BANKEX index by 71.37 points and touched 7082.90. AUTO index was don by 68.73 points and quoted at 5526.72 points, CG index by 67.76 points and quoted at 9099.06 points, FMCG index by 25.71 points and touched 1849.06 points, MID CAP index by 24.66 points and closed at 5912.01 points, HC index by 21.87 points and touched 3827.78 points and OIL&GAS index by 18.73 points and closed at 6319.82 points.

The market-breadth showed strength. For 1,731 shares rising on BSE, 929 declined. Just 45 shares were unchanged. Gainers outpaced losers by a ratio of 1.86:1. The BSE clocked Rs 3716 crore in turnover.

Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE also opened low at 3983.30 points. The Nifty index recorded a high at 3987.45 points and a low at 3913.00 points. The index closed low at 3933.40 points with a major loss of 50 points from it last close of 3983.40 points.

Asian shares dropped on Monday, led lower by resources and financial stocks. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were down by between 0.9 per cent to 1.2 per cent. Tokyo's market was closed for a public holiday. There is widespread anticipation that the Bank of Japan will hike interest rates as early as next week.

US stocks closed lower on Friday (5 January) as a stronger-than-expected US job growth in December cast doubts on hopes for an early US interest rate cut.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 82.68 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 12,398.01. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index was down 8.63 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 1,409.71.

The Nasdaq Composite Index ended down 19.18 points, or 0.78 per cent, at 2,434.25.

Heavy selling took its toll on IT shares. Infosys shed 3 per cent to Rs 2205. A block deal of 1.2 lakh shares was executed in the counter at Rs 2,215 per share. Infosys' BPO, the back-office unit, announced a tie-up for offering hospitality industry outsourcing solutions. Infosys' BPO and New York-based HVS International will jointly offer ways to improve productivity and optimise costs for global hospitality firms, the company said in a statement.

Satyam Computer shed 3 per cent to Rs 486, while Wipro lost 2.8 per cent to Rs 582. Satyam and Wipro are tracking a fall of 3 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively, in their ADRs.

Auto shares drifted lower. Car major Maruti Udyog plunged 4 per cent to Rs 896. The stock has lost 8 per cent in the past three trading sessions from a recent high of Rs 974.55 on January 3. Bajaj Auto shed 2.6 per cent to Rs 2709. Tata Motors shed 1 per cent to Rs 923 in volatile trade. Tata Motors' ADR lost 3.4 pr cent on Friday to USD 20.86.

Cement maker ACC lost 3 per cent to Rs 1022. A block deal of 2.06 lakh shares was struck in the counter on BSE at Rs 1036 per share.

Reliance Communications (down 2.8 cent to Rs 434.40) extended Friday's 3.7 per cent fall. Britain's Vodafone is to begin due diligence on Monday on Indian mobile phone firm Hutchison Essar, a leading newspaper reported. The access to the books has been denied to Vodafone's Indian competitors, who are also bidding for the mobile teleservices operator. Bharti Airtel shed 2.2 per cent to Rs 622.

Hindalco shed 2.4 per cent to Rs 167. In the commodities market, copper extended losses on Monday.

Select side-counters surged. Datamatics Tech (up 20 per cent to Rs 64.80), HFCL Infotel (up 20 per cent to Rs 22.50), KIC Metaliks (up 20 per cent to Rs 62.40), Syngenta India (up 20 per cent to Rs 398.25), JCT (up 15 per cent to Rs 11.53), Elnet Tech (up 13 per cent to Rs 141.30), Kinetic Motor (up 11.9 per cent to Rs 44), TV Today Network (up 11.7 per cent to Rs 93.60), Aksh Optifibre (up 11 per cent to Rs 56), Ginni Filaments (up 10.8 per cent to Rs 23.60), Mukta Arts (up 10 per cent to Rs 57.50), and Zandu Pharma (up 10 per cent to Rs 5905.30) advanced.

India has to make its tax regime more liberal, phase out exemptions and switch over to a goods and services tax (GST), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday. he said the cash-strapped government needed to maintain fiscal discipline, while taking steps to promote growth, brokers said.

UNI