As suggested yesterday, a break of yesterday’s low triggered a sharp fall. The Nifty may see further downward below 5,645

The domestic market closed in the red for the second day on selling pressure in State Bank of India as the PSU bank saw an increase in its non-performing assets. Today the Nifty broke its 20-day moving average of 5,685 by hitting an intraday low of 5,678 and settled a little above it, at 5,686. The index may see further downward momentum if it closes below 5,645. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 67.49 crore shares and an advance decline ratio of 571:1168.

The market opened soft tracking the weakness in the global markets. Overnight US stocks settled lower for the second day on concerns of the government’s ability to reduce its fiscal deficit. The Asian pack was also down in morning trade today on worries about the economic outlook.

Back home, the Nifty opened eight points lower at 5,731 and the Sensex resumed trade at 18,833, 13 points lower. The market was volatile since the opening bell with the benchmarks hovering on both sides of the previous closing levels.

Buying in select stock pushed the indices into the positive in early trade. The gains helped the benchmarks hit their highs in the first half hour wherein the Nifty rose to 5,752 and the Sensex stood at 18,894.

However, the gains were short-lived as selling in PSU banking stocks led the market into the negative terrain in late morning trade. State Bank of India, which declared its second quarter results, saw an increase in restructured loans and lower-than-expected net interest income.

There was no respite in the second half of trade as a weak opening of the key European indices and fresh revelations by social activist Arvind Kejriwal added to the gloom. The market dropped to its lows at around 1.30pm—as soon as Kejriwal began his address. At the lows the Nifty fell to 5,678 and the Sensex tumbled to 18,656.

The absence of any positive triggers—both domestic and global—resulted in the market settling near the lows and in the red for the second day. The Nifty closed 52 points (0.91%) lower at 5,686 and the Sensex declined 163 points (0.86%) to finish trade at 18,684.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index tanked 0.99% and the BSE Small-cap index declined 0.69%.

Today’s rout saw all sectoral indices settling lower. The top losers were BSE PSU (down 1.70%); BSE Realty (down 1.64%); BSE Metal (down 1.49%); BSE Oil & Gas (down 1.33%) and BSE Bankex (down 1.20%).

Four of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The gainers were Bajaj Auto (up 0.36%); Maruti Suzuki (down 0.32%); Cipla (down 0.14%) and HDFC Bank (down 0.09%). The chief losers were State Bank of India (down 3.89%); Tata Steel (down 3.25%); ONGC (down 3.05%); Sterlite Industries (down 2.38%) and BHEL (down 2.135).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (up 6.70%) and Ashok Leyland (up 6.64%).
The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (down 6.21%) and Aurobindo Pharma (down 4.62%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Aqua Logistics (up 20%) and JK Agri Genetics (up 19.99%).
The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Blue Chip India (up 15.58%) and Sujana Universal Industries (down 15.50%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, seven stocks settled in the positive. The key gainers were Cairn India (up 1.01%); UltraTech Cement (up 0.71%); Power Grid Corporation (up 0.63%); Maruti Suzuki (up 0.27%) and Lupin (up 0.05%). The losers were led by SBI (down 3.98%); Tata Steel (down3.89%); ONGC (down 3.07%); IDFC (down 2.90%) and Sesa Goa (down 2.83%).

Markets across Asia settled mostly in the red for another day on worries of the slowdown in the US. A clutch of positive economic indicators from China failed to enthuse investors.

The Shanghai Composite fell 0.12%; the Hang Seng declined 0.85%; the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.90%; the Straits Times shed 0.09% and the Seoul Composite declined 0.52%. Among the gainers, the Jakarta Composite rose 0.13% and the Taiwan Weighted surged 0.70%. The KLSE Composite was flat with a positive bias.

At the time of writing, the key European markets down between 0.28% and 0.92% and the US stock futures were mixed.

Back home, institutional investors were net buyers in the equities segment on Thursday. Foreign institutional investors brought in funds amounting to Rs261.21 crore and domestic institutional investors pumped in Rs84.59 crore into stocks.

Power Finance Corp along with Tata Capital will set up a $1 billion private equity fund that would mainly focus on financing for domestic power projects. PFC would have 49% in the private equity fund and the remaining shareholding would be owned by Tata Capital. PFC settled 2.10% down at Rs186.05 on the NSE.

CESC on Friday said it has bagged a contract to distribute power in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt. CESC, which has won the distribution franchisee bid as part of consortium of Nigerian partners and investment firms, would cover 48,000 sq km and expected an annual turnover of $180 million. CESC fell 0.16% to close at Rs274.65 on the NSE.

TTK Healthcare plans to invest about Rs 40 crore in the next couple of years in the region to set up new facilities to expand its food business. The company is vigorously pursuing activities to bring out new products as well as improvements existing products. The stock advanced 1.64% to settle at Rs410 on the NSE.