Market slips ahead of expiry of derivatives contract

Mumbai, June 27: After two straight sessions of rally, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today shaved off 70.02 points to settle in the red at 14,431.06 as selling pressure continued throughout the day ahead of the expiry of this month's derivative contracts tomorrow and weak Asian and European markets.

The Sensex had opened firmer at 14,520.19, which was also its intra-day high, from the previous close of 14,501.08 ''Buying was seen in consumer durables and information technology (IT) stocks, while auto, metal and public sector unit (PSU) stocks attracted selling,'' traders said.

Among the broader indices, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty Index also tanked by around 22 points to settle in negative territory at 4,263.95, from its previous close of 4,285.70, after moving between 4,294.20 and 4,255.25 during the session.

The total turnover on the BSE amounted to Rs 4,685 crore. Market analysts said the market breadth, which held positive till late afternoon trade, turned negative later as selling emerged for small and mid-cap stocks. 1,355 shares declined as compared to 1,266 that advanced, while 71 remained unchanged. Among the Sensex pack, 19 declined, while the rest advanced.

''As is the case at the time of expiry of near-month contracts, the extent of rollover to next month's contracts from this month's contracts will dictate the trend on the domestic bourses in the near term. A higher rollover indicates that the market players expect bourses to remain firm in the month ahead and vice versa,'' market pundits explained.

Meanwhile, the rupee opened at its lowest in more than two weeks today as overseas investors' appetite for risk weakened and on strong dollar demand from oil companies for import payments. In early trade, the rupee was at 41.027/035 per US dollar, dealers said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers of nearly Rs 241.46 crore equities, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth approximately Rs 199.49 crore yesterday, traders revealed.

Among the gainers were Satyam Computers, Wipro, TCS, Infosys Technologies, HDFC, Hero Honda Motors and Bajaj Auto.

The laggards included Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog, Reliance Industries (RIL), Reliance Communications, Reliance Energy, NTPC, Hindalco Industries and Ranbaxy Laboratories.

All the Asian markets were trading lower today, led by Japan, as shares of exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp and Canon Inc were hurt after yen strengthened against the US dollar. Japan's Nikkei was down by 1.20 per cent at 17,849.28. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped by 0.45 per cent to 21,705.56, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted down by 0.24 per cent at 8,844.22, South Korea's Seoul Composite tanked by 0.94 per cent at 1,733.10 and Singapore's Straits Times was down by 0.56 per cent at 3,505.50. However, China's Shanghai Composite was an exception. It rose by 2.65 per cent to 4,078.59.

All the European markets were trading lower.

Wall Street finished an extremely erratic session with a modest decline yesterday as investors parsed unimpressive data on home sales and consumer confidence and awaited the Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates.

The Dow Jones fell 14.39 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 13,337.66.

Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard&Poor's 500 index slipped 4.85 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 1,492.89, and the Nasdaq Composite index fell by 2.92 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 2,574.16.

Oil prices were steady in Asia today, as traders awaited the release of a US government inventory report expected to show increases in supplies of crude, gasoline and distillates. Light, sweet crude for August delivery lost 6 cents to USD 67.71 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

UNI

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