Sensex ends lower by 185.43 points

Mumbai, Aug 27: The Sensex on Wednesday, Aug 27 closed in the red at 14,296.79 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, down by 185.43 points, ahead of the expiry of the derivative contract for August 2008.

The Nifty index was also quoted below the 4300 barrier, ending at a low of 4292.10 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) with a loss of 45.40 from its last finish of 4337.50 on profit booking by local operators. After the modest gain in the last two days, the Sensex opened 80.88 higher at 14,563.10, which was also its high for the day. It hit a low of 14,261.69 in late trade. At the day's low, the Sensex lost 220.53 points.

The S &P CNX Nifty index of NSE resumed flat at 4336.85 points, later it recorded the day's high and low at 4364.25 and 4282.65 points respectively. Trading may exhibit volatile swings tomorrow, ahead of the expiry of derivative contracts for August 2008. As per reports, marketwide rollover of positions from August 2008 series to September 2008 series stood at 40 per cent while that of Nifty was at 37 per cent, as on yesterday, a leading broker said.

Global credit rating agency Moody's expects the Reserve Bank of India to further tighten monetary policy to contain rising prices. Markets have shown a sharp cut in trade during the later part of the day after consolidating with marginal losses for the entire day.

All BSE sectoral indices ended in red. Heavy selling pressure was seen in realty and banking stocks. Power, capital goods, oil &gas and FMCG stocks also witnessed selling pressure.

The BSE midcap and smallcap indices closed down by nearly one per cent. Activity was also muted at domestic institutional desk.

On the Global front, Asian markets closed mixed while European markets are still trading in red.

The market, which was range-bound throughout the day, cracked in late trade on fears of a further monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of India to rein in inflation, which is at 16-year high. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) and bank stocks led the decline.

Markets breadth was negative, with about 1123 shares advancing, 1711 shares declined, and 334 shares were unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3419 crore as compared to Rs 2349 crore by 1430 hrs. Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 25 declined while the rest advanced.

Total turnover traded in markets stood at Rs 59982.14 crore. This includes Rs 8757.12 crore from NSE Cash segment, Rs 47535.27 crore from NSE F&O and balance Rs 3689.75 crore from BSE Cash segment.

On the BSE, key indices suffered a setback on sustained heavy selling pressure by local operators. REALTY index crashed steeply by 175.65 points to finish at 4837.04 points, followed by BANKEX index by 147.09 to 6715.45 points, CG index by 138.54 to 11,754.87 points, OILS&GAS index by 112.74 to 9655.60 points, PSU index by 6633.27 points, MID CAP index by 58.34 to 5686.43 points, SML CAP index by 52.71 to 6859.91 points, POWER index by 36.44 to 2550.31 points, CD index by 35.25 to 3766.61 points and METAL index by 32.14 to 12,149.94 points.

Heavyweight stocks also declined like HDFC plummeted by Rs 50.75 to close in red at Rs 2293.05, L&T by Rs 42.60 to Rs 2576.45, SBI by Rs 40.55 to Rs 1330.90, BHEL by Rs 40.35 to Rs 1681.40, REL INFRA by Rs 36.55 to Rs 965.75, Reliance by Rs 31.80 to Rs 2147.85, HDFC Bank by Rs 22.05 to Rs 1233.40, DLF Ltd by Rs 19.85 to Rs 478.20, ICICI Bank by Rs 18.05 to Rs 648.85, Tata Power by Rs 16.95 to Rs 1,011.65, TCS by Rs 13.80 to Rs 818.55, Tata Motors by Rs 10.55 to Rs 422.80.

However, a few leading stocks looked up modestly on scattered bull support such as Infosys Tech, which rose slightly by Rs 10.40 to close hilgh at Rs 1708. Tata Steel also gained by Rs 3.85 to Rs 581.40, Hindalco was up by Rs 2.80 to Rs 138.50 and Mahindra&Mahindra went up by Rs 1.65 to Rs 575.90.

UNI