Sensex breaks 9000 led by metal, bank, realty, IT

17 February 2009

Continuous unwinding of positions in realty, banking, metal, technology, oil & gas, telecom and power stocks is putting pressure on the benchmark indices. Sell-off in global cues is also adding some fuel to negative sentiment. Dow Jones Futures fell 140 points, to 7,639 and Nasdaq Futures down 24 points, to 1,206.

The Sensex broke 9000 mark, was trading at 8,995, down 310 points and the Nifty was at 2,757, down 91 points, at 2:51 hours IST. Broader indices like BSE Midcap and Small cap indices fell 2.4% each.

Among frontliners, Reliance Industries, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, ONGC, SBI, TCS, Reliance Communication, SAIL, HDFC Bank, DLF, HDFC and Bharti Airtel tanked 2-7%.

BSE Realty index plunged over 5%. Bankex and Metal indices declined  4.7% each. IT, Oil & Gas, TECK, Power, Capital Goods and Auto indices fell 2-3.8%.

Market breadth is in favour of declines; about 771 shares have advanced while 2062 shares declined. Nearly 187 shares are unchanged.

On the F&O side, Nifty February futures is trading with discount of 16-17 points. It has added about 27 lakh shares in open interest (OI) with turnover of Rs 5,900 crore. On the options side, Nifty 2800 Put has shed about 23% while Nifty 2800 call added about 25% in open interest.