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Sensex declines 61 points on inflation report

MUMBAI - The Indian market breadth was positive with selective buying in small-cap and mid-cap shares. Inflation based on the the wholesale price index rose 8.75 per cent in the 12 months to May 31, above the previous week's annual rise of 8.24 per cent, government data released yesterday afternoon showed.

The 30-share BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex) opened 77 points higher at 15,327 due to positive close in the US markets, and soon touched a day's high of 15,337. Intra-day profit booking in realty, metal and FMCG stocks pushed the number into a negative zone to touch a low of 15,136.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 61 points at 15,190. The NSE Nifty ended with a loss of 22 points at 4,517. Nifty June-end futures were at 4482.10, at a discount of 35 points as compared to spot closing of 4517.10. The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs58.47 billion from Rs62.33 billion on Thursday. NSE's futures & options segment turnover was Rs410.03 billion from Rs523.33 billion on Thursday.

The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,678 stocks traded, 1,445 advanced, 1,156 declined and 77 were unchanged. In the 30-member list of Sensex shares, only 9 gained while 21 declined. Jaipakash Associates was the worst performer, plunging over 4 per cent to Rs179. DLF tumbled 3.6 per cent to Rs480. HDFC Bank declined 3.4 per cent at Rs1,123. Cipla slipped 2.6 per cent to Rs211. Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Infrastructure dropped 2.5 per cent each to Rs225 and Rs1,020, repsectively. Maruti lost around 2 per cent at Rs722. Tata Steel and HDFC dipped 1.9 per cent each to Rs841 and Rs2,133, respectively. Grasim, Hindalco and Mahindra & Mahindra declined 1.3 per cent each to Rs2,182, Rs175 and Rs570, respectively.

ITC and NTPC shed 1.2 per cent each at Rs197 and Rs161, respectively. Wipro and Ambuja Cements were down over 1 per cent each to Rs478 and Rs85, respectively. Among gainers, Ranbaxy surged 4.3 per cent to Rs567. ICICI Bank gained over 3 per cent to Rs765. BHEL moved up 2.8 per cent to Rs1,561, while TCS advanced 2.2 per cent to Rs908. Tata Motors inched up 1.7 per cent at Rs516. ONGC added 1.2 per cent to Rs841. Reliance Communications, ACC and Larsen & Toubro were the other major gainers.

Corporate news scenario: Wipro declined 1.09 per cent to Rs477.85. It is reportedly bidding for 12 contracts worth at least $100 million each as it seeks bigger clients. Larsen & Toubro was up 0.25 per cent to Rs2,710.15. Due to unfavourable market conditions, L&T has reportedly decided to delay the listing of its software business unit L&T Infotech to 2009-10. The firm had earlier decided to go for L&T Infotech's initial public offer in the second half of this fiscal.

Reliance Capital led the value chart with a turnover of Rs2.7 billion followed by Anu Labs (Rs2.62 billion), Chambal Fertilisers (Rs2.48 billion), Reliance Petroleum (Rs2.47 billion) and Reliance Inds (Rs2.21 billion). Chambal Fertilisers topped the volume chart with trades of around 28.1 million shares followed by Nagarjuna Fertiliser (17.8 million), Reliance Petroleum (13.7 million), Reliance Natural Resources (13 million) and IFCI (12.6 million shares).

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.08 per cent to 6,228.17 and BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.74 per cent to 7,581.72. Both these indices outperformed Sensex. BSE Consumer Durables index (up 1.74 per cent to 3,981.55), BSE HealthCare index (up 1.19 per cent at 4,494.02), BSE Bankex (up 0.26 per cent at 7,056.24), BSE Capital Goods (up 0.25 per cent at 12,019.16), BSE PSU index (up 0.11 per cent to 6,528.94), BSE TecK index (down 0.18 per cent to 3,381.05), and BSE IT index (down 0.22 per cent to 4,336.06) outperformed Sensex. The BSE Realty index (down 2.59 per cent at 5,670.23), BSE Metal index (down 2.08 per cent to 15,185.92), BSE FMCG index (down 1.2 per cent to 2,241.53), BSE Power index (down 1.08 per cent to 2,627.73), The BSE Auto (down 0.45 per cent at 4,129.79), and BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.58 per cent to 9,917.01) underperformed Sensex.

Healthcare stocks were all up. Ranbaxy Labs surged 4.31 per cent to Rs566.90 on a heavy volume of 2.23 million shares on the BSE. Drug maker Pfizer Inc may reportedly make a hostile bid for the 65 per cent stake in Ranbaxy not held by its founders. Daiichi Sankyo Co., Japan's third-largest drug maker, had agreed on June 11 to buy a controlling stake in Ranbaxy for as much as $4.6 billion. Pfizer's Indian arm surged 4.76 per cent to Rs620 and Biocon was up 1.34 per cent to Rs483.15.