Nifty ends below 2900 on weak global cues; RIL, ONGC dip

12 February 2009

The benchmark indices continued the sell-off for the second consecutive day and ended on a weak note on the back of negative global cues. Frontline indices had started the day with negative bias following bad Asian cues. As the day progressed, they began the recovery process and were about to return back into positive territory but weak European cues pushed the markets lower again.

Leading contributors to this fall were Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Infosys, BHEL, ICICI Bank, ITC, Maruti, NTPC, TCS, L&T, Sterlite, Ranbaxy and Tata Steel. However, DLF, M&M, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Power, Hero Honda, Idea, Power Grid and Siemens witnessed buying interest.

The 50-share NSE Nifty has closed the day at 2893.05, down 1.12% or 32.65 points. The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 152.71 points or 1.59%, to settle at 9,465.83. However, broader indices outperformed benchmark indices a bit; BSE Midcap ended at 2,968.11, up 2.97 points and Small Cap index was down 23.82 points, to 3,374.79.

The markets have not reacted strongly to decline in inflation numbers, which was seen as a non-event today as well. IIP numbers came in negative, but there was not impact seen on the markets, as it seemed like already factored in.

Inflation for week-ended January 31 has come in at 4.39% versus 5.07% week-on-week (WoW). Also, inflation for the week-ended December 5 has been revised to 6.56% versus 6.84% (provisional).

In an interview with CNBC-TV18 earlier , Davesh Kumar of Centrum Broking had said that he sees inflation between 0% and 3% by June, and interest rates in single-digits by October next year.