Markets end in red amid extreme volatility; IT down 6 per cent

14 July 2008

Markets ended in negative terrain amid extreme volatility through the day as selling pressure was seen in technology, FMCG, pharma, select banking and realty stocks while buying in metal, oil & gas and auto stocks. The Sensex swung nearly 290 points and Nifty 114 points.

Infosys, TCS, BHEL, Satyam, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Ranbaxy Labs and HDFC were draggers for both indices while Reliance Ind, ONGC, SBI, Tata Steel, SAIL and L&T were being supportive.

The Sensex closed at 13,330.51, down by 139.34 points or 1.03% after hitting an intraday high of 13,559.36 and low of 13,269.62. Nifty lost 9.03 points or 0.23% to settle at 4039.70. It has hit a high/low of 4118.10 and 4004.25, respectively.

Market breadth was negative; about 1163 shares have advanced while 1755 shares declined. Nearly 228 shares remained unchanged.

Amongst frontliners, Satyam plunged 7.92%, Infosys -7.18%, HCL Tech -5.74%, TCS -3.85% and HDFC -3.38% while Sterlite Ind gained 3.74%, ONGC 3.09%, NTPC 3.09%, M&M 2.91% and SBI 2.90%.

Infosys Technologies was biggest losing counter in frontliners due to steep fall in its ADRs in US markets after weak guidance in dollar terms. Another stock is HCL Tech, which crashed around 10% in today's trade because the company reported forex loss of $ 65-75 million for Q4 including MTM and will incur forex loss of $ 67-77 million in FY08 including MTM.