Sensex down by 95.59 points, Nifty sheds 32 pts

Mumbai, July 25: After five straight sessions of rally, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today plummeted by an unnerving 95.59 points to settle in the red at 15,699.33 on account of unwinding of positions ahead of the expiry of this month's derivatives contracts tomorrow and bearish global indices.

''The market remained weak throughout the day as weakness in global markets and expiry of this months derivatives contracts tomorrow played spoilssport. Volatility was the hallmark of the day's session, which is likely to intensify tomorrow. As per latest data, Nifty rollover stood at 44.6 per cent while total market rollover was 45 per cent, from this month's contracts to next month's contracts,'' market analysts explained.

Among the broader markets, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty Index also tanked by 32.05 points to close on negative terrain at 4,588.70 from it's previous close of 4,620.75, after opening marginally lower at 4,620.50 and moving between 4,620.50 to 4,555.80 during the day's session.

''Stocks from cement, real estate, auto and infromation technology (IT) came under intense selling pressure, while buying was seen in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), oil&gas and consumer durable goods scrips. The total open interest in NSE's futures and options (F&O) segment vaulted to an all-time record of Rs 99,812.37 crore yesterday, from Rs 92,507.76 crore on the previous day,'' market pundits observed.

BSE data showed that the market breadth here was weak as 1,735 shares declined while only 901 advanced and 68 remained unchanged.

The total turnover amounted to Rs 5,605 crore. Among he Sensex pack, 23 of the 30 constituents were in the red.

ITC, Hindustan Unilever, NTPC, Infosys Technologies and ONGC were the day's leaders, while Satyam Computers, TCS, Ambuja Cement, ACC, Grasim, Reliance Industries (RIL), Bajaj Auto and HDFC were the prominent laggards.

Asian indices edged lower today. Japan's Nikkei tumbled 0.80 per cent at 17,858.75. Hang Seng was down 0.47 per cent at 23,362.18 and Singapore's Straits Times slipped 0.86 per cent at 3,633.54.

However, China's Shanghai Composite jumped 2.70 per cent to 4,323.96.

All the European markets were trading lower today, except FISE 100, which was up 0.04 per cent.

Wall Street shares slumped sharply yesterday. The Dow Jones shed 226.47 points, or 1.62 per cent, at 13,716.95. 29 of the 30 Dow components fell. The Standard&Poor's 500 index shed 30.53 points, or 1.98 per cent, to 1,511.04. The Nasdaq Composite index lost 50.72 points, or 1.89 per cent to 2,639.86.

India's largest cigarette manufacturer ITC surged 8.57 per cent to Rs 165.30 on 57.99 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. The company announces first quarterly (Q1) June 2007 results on Friday.

Foreign brokerage CLSA has raised its price target to Rs 184, and upgraded it to buy from underperformer.

Meanwhile, ITC is reportedly planning to sell home and personal-care products to sustain growth as new taxes and curbs on smoking threaten cigarette sales. The new products will be sold through the company's network of 6,400 web kiosks and 18 supermarkets.

India's largest FMCG firm in sales Hindustan Unilever rose 1.03 per cent to Rs 201.50 on rumours the company is disposing off of its prime properties across India including its corporate office Lever House in Mumbai. The company is also selling some of its residential properties in Mumbai's suburbs. It may either develop its 30-acre property in Bangalore or sell it entirely, market participants said.

The company, however, denied these reports.

India's largest oil explorer ONGC advanced 2.35 per cent to Rs 937 after it today reported an 11.9 per cent growth to Rs 4610 crore in net profit in Q1 June 2007 over the corresponding period last year.

IT pivotals were subdued after the rupee gradually approached the crucial 40-mark today, touching new nine-year high of 40.22 against the US currency in early trade.

In fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the local currency resumed strong at 40.22/23 per US dollar from overnight close of 40.28/29 a dollar but later was quoted at 40.2450/2550 a dollar in late morning deals.

''The rupee is likely to breach the 40 level in the near future if the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) did not intervene aggressively in the exchange market,'' experts opined.

Fourth largest software services exporter Satyam Computers plunged 6.18 per cent to Rs 486.25 on 9.20 lakh shares. It was the top loser from the Sensex pack.

India's largest private sector company Reliance Industries (RIL) was down 0.19 per cent to Rs 1,908.10, on 5.61 lakh shares. Analysts said RIL is planning to set up 4,000 mega watt gas-based power generation capacity at multiple locations at an investment of Rs 10,000 crore, in addition to a mega fertiliser plant at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

Crude oil fell for a fourth day in New York on speculation that US gasoline production will be sufficient to meet late summer demand.

Crude oil for September, this year, delivery declined as much as 46 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to USD 73.10 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at USD 73.22 in Singapore.

UNI