Sensex crashes by 70.76 pts, closes at 14,211.96

Mumbai, Jan 29: The Sensex today crashed by 70.76 points and closed in the red at 14,211.96 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on sustained heavy offloading by mutual funds and other operators.

Although the bourses showed signs of nervousness throughout the session, much of their fall came about only during the later part of trading.

The benchmark Sensex lost nearly 100 points during late trading before recovering a bit at the end. the Sensex resumed firm at 14,306.97 points and recorded the day's high at 14,316.54 points and a low at 14,185 points in intra day.

The BSE BANKEX index plunged steeply by 154.05 points and closed at 7292.78 points, followed by IT index by 49.92 points and touched 5315.57 points, FMCG index by 36.81 points and quoted at 1914.44 points, AUTO index by 29.97 and touched 5561.67 points and TECK index by 18.52 points and closed at 3758.74 points.

The BSE METAL index, however, shot up by 134.16 points and closed at 9759.61 points, followed by PSU index by 46.30 points and touched at 6370.39 points and OIL and GAS index by 25.77 points and closed at 6716.68 points.

Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE closed low at 4124.45 points with a modest loss of 23.35 points from last close of 4147.70 points before it opened flat at 4148.40 points. The index recorded a high at 4167.15 and a low at 4115.75 points.

Caution prevailed ahead of RBI's credit policy review meeting on January 31. As the market is closed tomorrow on account of Moharram and the death annivesary of Mahatama Gandhi, ahead of the RBI meeting, the impact of the anticipated rate rise impacted trading today. The central bank is expected to raise short-term interest rates during the policy review meeting.

Banking shares weakened in the latter part of trading on concerns of rate hike. IT shares were subdued-to-weak throughout the day.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) held positive zone for most of the day and acted and buffered the Sensex's fall.

The market-breadth was even by the end of the session in contrast to a strong breadth in the afternoon. Against 1,324 shares rising on BSE, 1.322 declined. Just 47 shares were unchanged. The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 3703 crore.

European markets were mixed in early trade. London's FTSE 100 index was up 0.06 per cent. Germany,s DAX and France's CAC 40 were down by 0.09 per cent each.

Asian markets also traded mixed. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan were down between 0.2 --0.9 per cent.

Key indices in Japan and Singapore were up between 0.2 --1.3 per cent.

Oil prices firmed up. Nymex crude was up 44 cents, at USD 55.86 a barrel on Monday, brokers said.

State-run Steel Authority of India (Sail) lost 0.1 per cent to Rs 111.50. Sail today posted a net profit of Rs 1471.19 crore in December 2006 quarter compared to a net profit of Rs 656.07 crore in the December 2005 quarter. ICICI Bank lost 3.3 per cent to Rs 952, State Bank of India shed 1.9 per cent to Rs 1153 and HDFC Bank lost 1.6 per cent to Rs 1050.

Cigarette major ITC shed 3 per cent to Rs 173. ITC's board meets on Wednesday to consider Q3 results.

Tata Motors shed nearly 3 per cent to Rs 899. Maruti Udyog was down 0.5 per cent to Rs 937.90, up from the session's low of Rs 925.

IT shares slipped on profit-taking. Wipro lost 3 per cent to Rs 630, Satyam Computer shed 2.9 per cent to Rs 462.50 and TCS shed 1.6 per cent to Rs 1292.

Reliance Industries (RIL) rose nearly 1 per cent to Rs 1382.85.

As many as 4.4 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

Reliance Communications (RCL) surged by 4 per cent to Rs 454.85, partly due to expectations of strong Q3 results, and partly on shareholders' approval for transferring the company's wireless towers (CDMA and GSM) and related infrastructure to its subsidiary, Reliance Telecom Infrastructure (RTIL). RCL unveils Q3 results on January 31.

Tata Steel rose by 2 per cent to Rs 520, extending last week's surge. As per reports, an auction will be held for Anglo-Dutch Steelmaker Corus on Tuesday, which will last for 10 hours. UK's takeover watchdog has set January 30, as the deadline for Tata Steel and CSN to make revised offers for Corus. Hitherto, CSN enjoys an edge over its Indian rival with a higher price bid of 515 pence a share compared to Tata Steel's 500 pence per share.

L&T (up 0.7 per cent to Rs 1625) firmed up in mid-afternoon trade soon after its Q3 results hit the market. L&T has posted a net profit-after-tax of Rs 343.90 crore in December 2006 quarter compared to Rs 259.27 crore in December 2005 quarter.

Bhel was up by 2 per cent to Rs 2498, after its board announced a surprise 1:1 bonus along with strong Q3 results after trading hours last thursday.

Hindalco Industries rose nearly 3 per cent to Rs 180.45, after reporting a surge in net profit in December 2006 quarter, to Rs 643.90 crore from Rs 336.20 crore in December 2005 quarter. The results were unveiled after trading hours on Thursday.

NTPC rose nearly 4 per cent to Rs 142.75, ahead of its board meeting on Wednesday, to consider December 2006 quarter results. On the same day, the company's board will also consider an interim dividend for shareholders.

The trading on BSE and NSE will remain officially closed on Jan 30, brokers said.

UNI