India stocks fall, Sensex dips below 9,000

Sensex plunged 142 points or 1.5 per cent to settle at 8,788.81. The S&P CNX Nifty lost 46 points or 1.7 per cent to settle at 2,652.25.

The fall came despite strong Q2 GDP growth data which hit the market in early afternoon trade. Economy grew 8 per cent in Q2 September 2005 compared with the same period a year earlier led by strong output in services and manufacturing.

In opening trade today, the Sensex had jumped as much as 102.83 points to hit a high of 9,033.99 boosted by the Prime Minister's statement, at a business seminar on Tuesday, that India's gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to expand 7.5 per cent in the year to March 2006.

Sensex gyrated a huge 265.19 points today between a low of 8,768.80 and a high of 9,033.99.

Profit taking emerged following a recent sharp surge in share prices. Sensex had jumped 459.97 points or 5.3 per cent in five trading sessions to a lifetime closing high of 8,994.94 on November 28, 2005 from a recent low of 8,534.97 on November 22, 2005. It lost 64 points on November 29, 2005.

For the month of November 2005, the Sensex jumped 896.49 points or 11.3 per cent from 7,892.32 on October 31, 2005, following resumption of FII buying, fall in global crude oil prices and on the back of firmness in global markets.

Auto, cement, PSU banks, IT, and FMCG stocks led today's fall. Cellular services major Bharti Tele-Ventures and Cipla plunged. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries dropped.

Two refinery shares HPCL and BPCL edged higher following a fall in global crude oil prices. But the oil price drop weighed on oil exploration major ONGC.

Market breadth did a complete reversal during the course of trading today. Market breadth, which was quite strong till early afternoon trade, weakened substantially afterwards. A total of 1,592 stocks declined on BSE as compared to 898 that rose. Only 56 scrips remained unchanged. Losers outpaced gainers by a ratio of 1.77:1.

Select stocks surged. Scrips like Lyka Labs, Sah Petroleum, IVP, VST Industries, Godfrey Phillips, Vybra Automotive, JK Industries, ITI, Igarshi Motors, Mahavir Spinning, and Valecha Engineering surged.

Among other side counters that edged higher included United Phosphorous, Elgi Equipment, Elecon Engineering, Birla VXL, Greaves Cotton, Financial Technologies, Centurion Bank, Talbros Automotive, Cummins India, Texmaco, TRF, Paper Products, GHCL, Jaiprakash Associates, and EIH Associated Hotels.

Infrastructure firm Infrastructure Development Finance Company edged higher on high volumes following its entry into the MSCI index.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs3,528 crore today, higher than Tuesday's Rs3,341.37 crore.

Wipro plunged 5 per cent to Rs419.80. A volume of 5 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

The fall in Wipro brought IT stocks lower along with itself. Satyam Computer shed 3.5per cent to Rs650, Infosys lost 1.5 per cent to Rs2,691 and TCS shed 1.5 per cent to Rs1,519.

Cellular services major Bharti Tele-Ventures lost 3.5 per cent to Rs355.

Auto stocks slipped on profit taking. Tata Motors shed 3.4 per cent to Rs555; Bajaj Auto lost 3 per cent to Rs2, 005, Mahindra & Mahindra shed 2.4 per cent to Rs453 and Hero Honda lost 2.3 per cent to Rs831.

Pharma pivotals dropped. Cipla shed 3.3 per cent to Rs396, Dr Reddy's Lab shed 2.6 per cent to Rs910 and Ranbaxy lost 1.3 per cent to Rs383.

FMCG major Hindustan Lever plunged 3 per cent to Rs181.50 and cigarette major ITC lost 1.8 per cent to Rs134.40. But Nestle jumped 6 per cent to Rs962.

Cement shares slipped on profit taking. ACC lost 2 per cent to Rs511.95, Gujarat Ambuja Cements shed 2.3 per cent to Rs80.60 and Grasim lost 0.4 per cent to Rs1,361.

Oil exploration major ONGC slipped following a drop in global crude oil prices. The stock shed 1.5 per cent to Rs1,033. Oil price fell on Tuesday amid warmer US weather and OPEC assurances about supply. US crude oil futures settled 86 cents lower at $56.50 per barrel on Tuesday afternoon, consequent to the fall of more than $1 on Monday.

State Bank of India (SBI) lost 2 per cent to Rs 896.70. ICICI Bank edged up 0.14 per cent to Rs537.15 after it set a price band of Rs505-Rs 545 for its mega IPO that opens today.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries shed 1.8 per cent to Rs832.35 on reports that market regulator, SEBI, has asked the Ambani brothers about the details of the demerger scheme of Reliance Industries (RIL).

Centurion Bank rose 3.6per cent to Rs21.10 on reports that it plans to raise Rs384 crore by selling 20 crore shares to three private equity investors — GW Capital, ChrysCapital and Citigroup Venture Capital. The stock rose on high volume of 35 lakh shares.

ITI jumped 7.5 per cent to Rs77.35. This scrip rose on high volume of 54 lakh shares.

Bullion: Precious metals declined on selling pressure at the local bullion market today. Pure Gold (.999) shed Rs30 to close at Rs7,475 per ten grams and Standard gold (.995) also lost Rs30 at Rs7,455 per ten grams. Silver dipped Rs100 to finish at Rs12,800 per kg.