Sensex ends below 14000; Infy, ICICI, RIL, ONGC drag

12 September 2008

It was an another dreadful session for the markets, wherein bears took complete control on benchmark indices in last couple of hours. It was  fourth consecutive day that markets were under pressure. They have got beaten down on huge volumes in today's trade led by heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, ONGC, HDFC and Reliance Infrastructure.

Markets completely ignored positive IIP numbers and good global markets. The Sensex slipped below 14000 mark while the Nifty just hit 4200 level again.

The Sensex has touched a low of 13,933.87, before closing down by 323.48 points or 2.26% at 14,000.81. The Nifty fell 61.85 points or 1.44%, to settle at 4228.45. It has hit an intraday low of 4200.15.

This was the second day, where Reliance Industries (RIL) plunged sharply on huge volumes and touched new-2008 low as well as 52-week low of 1,918.10 on the BSE. It closed at 1,931.40, down by 3.31% or Rs 66.2. It traded with volumes of 2,306,607 shares, which was 84.56% higher than its 5-day average of 1,249,817 shares. Reliance added 46 points to the Sensex loss.

Main reasons for the fall in price of RIL are : Brokerages have downgraded earnings and price targets to align with new political and business realities. Crude prices have also been falling and Reliance's Gross Refining Margins stood at nearly USD 15 per barrel in the last two quarters. That is expected to cool down this quarter.

Crude was hovering around USD 102 to a barrel on the NYMEX. ONGC also took huge beating on the bourses; fell 1.22% to Rs 1022.80. It traded with 468,325 shares, which was 44% higher compared to its 5-day average of 325,282 shares.