We may see one or two days of recovery if today’s lows hold

Today, after the market opened in the negative, the indices witnessed range-bound movement until noon. There was steep decline, resulting in the benchmarks hitting their intraday lows, the lowest since early November 2009. The indices made a strong recovery from their day’s lows but closed in the red. From here we may see a short term recovery if today’s lows hold. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 67.14 crore shares.   

The market opened lower today, wiping all the gains that were accrued yesterday in come-back rally, on negative cues. Uncertainty in Europe and a lower-than-expected US GDP growth in the September quarter pulled down the Asian pack, and India was no exception. The Nifty opened at 4,780, down 32 points from its previous close, and the Sensex declined 95 to begin trade at 15,970. The opening figures on both benchmarks were also their intraday highs.

All sectoral gauges were in the red as the fall increased as trade progressed. Metal, tech and banking counters witnessed heavy selling in early trade. Reports of China’s November factory output plunging to a 32-month low also weighed on investor sentiments.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, while responding to queries in Parliament today, attributed the stock market crash to withdrawal of funds by foreign investors and depreciation of the rupee.

The market touched the day’s low in noon trade as the European markets opened lower. At the intraday low, the Nifty fell by 171 points to 4,641 and the Sensex plunged 587 points to 15,479.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was 357:1342.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index declined 2.05% and the BSE Small-cap index fell by 1.72%.

Barring the BSE Consumer Durables index (up 0.49%), all other sectoral gauges closed lower. The top losers were BSE Capital Goods (down 3.04%); BSE TECk (down 2.65%); BSE IT (down 2.48%); BSE Oil & Gas (down 2.41%) and BSE Bankex (down .40%).

NTPC (up 0.58%) was the sole gainer on the Sensex in today’s market mayhem. The laggards were led by Jaiprakash Associates (down 5.05%); HDFC Bank (down 3.85%); Bharti Airtel (down 3.70%); BHEL (down 3.58%) and Wipro (down 3.17%).

NTPC (up 1%); Reliance Communications (up 0.71%); Bajaj Auto (up 0.43%) and Hindustan Unilever (up 0.03%) were the gainers on the Nifty. BPCL (down 5.34%); JP Associates (down 5.13%): HDFC Bank (down 4.52%); IDFC (down 4.36%) and Ranbaxy (down 4.21%) were the major losers on the index.

The absence of any positive trigger kept the indices range-bound in the negative terrain in the post-noon session. The Nifty declined 106 points to 4,706 and the Sensex closed the session at 45,700, a cut of 365 points.

Markets in Asia closed lower on news that China’s factory output in November plunged to a 32-month low of 48, down from a final reading of 51 in October. This apart, the decline in US GDP growth in the September quarter re-ignited fresh concerns about the slowdown in the global economy.

The Shanghai Composite declined 0.73%; the Hang Seng tanked 2.12%; the Jakarta Composite fell 1.30%; the KLSE Composite slipped 0.34%; the Straits Times decreased by 1.50%; the Seoul Composite settled 2.36% and the Taiwan Weighted tumbled 2.77%.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net sellers of stock totalling Rs952.68 crore on Tuesday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors were net buyers of shares worth Rs1,065.51 crore.

Suzlon Energy subsidiary REpower Systems SE has inked a deal with EverPower Wind Holdings to deliver 68 wind turbines for the Twin Ridges project in Pennsylvania, USA. The wind farm, which is scheduled for commissioning in the fiscal 12-13, will generate total output of nearly 140 MW, providing enough clean energy to power over 38,000 homes. The scrip rose 0.23% to close trade at Rs22.10 on the NSE.

Heavy vehicles major Ashok Leyland and US-based agriculture machinery maker John Deere have announced entry into the Indian construction equipment business with the launch of 435 Backhoe Loader. The earth mover is the first out of the 50:50 joint venture between the two companies, almost three years after they forged the partnership. Ashok Leyland settled flat at Rs24.85 on the NSE today.

3i Infotech has entered into strategic alliance with the Indian arm of Smartesting, a leading software provider for model-based test design solutions. With this partnership, 3i Infotech’s Independent Testing and Compliance Business (ITCB) will not only integrate the Smartesting solution in its test environment but also offer this as part of its testing solution to all its customers. The stock tumbled 5.29% to close at Rs17.90 on the NSE.