Sensex opens in the red

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

Mumbai, Apr 30 (UNI) The Sensex today opened in the red registering a loss of 85.18 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) at 13,823.40 from its previous close of 13,908.58 points, tracking subdued Asian markets and ICICI Bank's dismal fourth quaterly (Q4) 2007 performance.

The broader Nifty Index also opened with a modest loss of 1.90 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) at 4,081.60 points from its previous close of 4,083.50.

At the BSE, ICICI Bank shares tumbled after the bank announced a large equity issue along with a dismal financial performance in Q4 March 2007. The fall in ICICI Bank weighed on other banking stocks as well, but IT stocks edged higher.

The market-breadth was almost even. Against 716 scrips that rose, 711 declined. Just 37 scrips were unchanged. The premier Exchange clocked a turnover of Rs 490 crore, market analysts observed.

ICICI Bank tumbled 7.8 per cent to Rs 860. On Saturday, the Bank had posted lower-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on higher cost of funds.

ICICI Bank's net profit rose 4.45 per cent to Rs 825.12 crore in the quarter ended March 2007, against Rs 789.93 crore during the same quarter last year. Total income for the bank rose 54.2 per cent at Rs 8,495 crore. Concerns of huge equity dilution also weighed on the stock. Along with Q4 results, ICICI Bank's board gave an approval for raising additional equity capital by way of a public issue of shares and of American Depositary Shares (ADSs).

The exercise is expected to generate around Rs 20,000 crore. The approval of shareholders will be sought by postal ballot, the private sector bank said.

Other banks drifted lower. HDFC Bank shed 1.9 per cent to Rs 996.80 and State Bank of India lost 1.7 per cent to Rs 1080.

Reliance Communications (RCL) shed 1.2 per cent to Rs 454, ahead of its Q4 results today. The company expects to report bumper Q4 results on the back of strong growth in new subscriptions, market analysts observed.

IT shares were in demand. Infosys gained 1.3 per cent to Rs 2034, Satyam Computer rose 1.3 per cent to Rs 473 and TCS rose 0.6 per cent to Rs 1242.

Tata Steel gained 1.8 per cent to Rs 547. The stock has witnessed alternate bouts of buying and selling after the company recently unveiled funding for acquisition of Corus, which involves substantial equity dilution in phases.

Cement shares inched higher. Gujarat Ambuja Cements rose 0.8 per cent to Rs 118.50, Grasim gained 0.4 per cent to Rs 2433 and ACC rose 0.3 per cent to Rs 824.50.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) dropped 1.1 per cent to Rs 1521. A strong 1.3 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

Chinese stocks today shrugged off a central bank announcement at the weekend that it would raise bank reserve ratios to help restrain loan growth. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.1 per cent.

But other major Asian markets were subdued, as exporters were hit by a weak US GDP growth data. A report last week showed the US economy grew by just 1.3 per cent in the first quarter.

UNI

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