Markets sink into the red on late sell-offs

Mumbai, May 30: After crossing the 14,500 mark, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today crashed by 96.8 points to settle at a low of 14,411.38 on account of heavy unwinding of long positions in the last 45 minutes of trade.

It had touched a high of 14,576.37 and a low of 14,379.21 during intra-day trade after opening slightly weaker at 14,501.46.

The National Stock Exchange S&P CNX Nifty Index, which had crossed 4,300 mark to strike an all-time high of 4,301.60 earlier during the day, slumped by 43.60 points to finally settle at 4,249.65.

''Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) are now playing big-time on local bourses and were net buyers to the tune of approximately Rs 698 crore yesterday, when the Sensex had surged by 110 points. On the other hand domestic institutions were net sellers to the tune of Rs 124,'' dealers disclosed.

Market analysts explained that the market breadth was weak at the premier BSE as a host of small and mid-cap stocks came under selling pressure. 1,608 shares declined and 1,006 advanced, while 61 remained unchanged. This was in sharp contrast to the morning session, when 1,187 shares advanced as compared to 980 that declined, they pointed out adding that the total turnover here amounted to Rs 4737 crore. Among the Sensex pack, 24 declined while the rest advanced.

The prominent gainers include engineering and construction major Larsen&Toubro, Hero Honda, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and HDFC.

The main losers were Reliance Energy, Reliance Communications, HDFC Bank Bhel Reliance Industries (RIL), Satyam Computers, TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Hindalco.

Rupee eased away from a recent nine-year high today as investors pared positions in the local unit on concerns over central bank intervention and on dollar demand from oil refiners for month-end payments.

Experts pointed out tht the rupee is Asia's best performing currency against the dollar this calendar year, gaining more than 9 per cent on strong capital inflows into the fast-growing economy.

Among Asian markets, the Chinese stocks tumbled by 6.50 per cent or 281.36 points to 4,053.08 today, after China tripled a share-trading tax to cool its red-hot market, buffeting Asian and European markets, but failing to trigger the broad rout some had feared.

Investors had feared a sharp fall in China could ripple through financial markets as it earlier did in February this year. China's Ministry of Finance raised stamp duty on share transactions to 0.3 per cent from 0.1 per cent in what was seen as the strongest attempt yet to curb speculation in a market that had risen more than 60 per cent so far this year, analysts explained.

All the Asian and European markets were trading weak, except Seoul Composite, which rose 0.06 per cent. The Nikkei average fell 0.48 per cent or 84.30 points to 17,588.26. The Hang Seng index lost 0.86 per cent or 175.83 points to 20,293.76.

The US Wall Street had eked out a modest gain yesterday as investors were wary about the upcoming release of the Federal Reserve minutes, bought cautiously amid a series of new takeover deals and upbeat consumer confidence figures. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 14.06 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 13,521.34. The Standard&Poor's 500 index gained 2.38 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 1,518.11, while the Nasdaq composite index advanced 14.87 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 2,572.06.

Oil prices held at USD 68 a barrel today in London, ahead of US inventory data expected to show rising crude and fuel stocks. London Brent crude traded up 14 cents at USD 68.27 a barrel, after tumbling to USD 1.58 yesterday on US refinery restarts and easing concerns over Nigerian shipments. US crude was up 10 cents at USD 63.25, after a USD 2.05 plunge yesterday.

UNI