Small-cap, mid-cap indices retreat even as Sensex strikes record high

The market was highly volatile as stocks gyrated between zones throughout the trading session with the index witnessing an intra-day swing of 380 points. On the back of firm global indices, the Sensex began its initial trades on a positive note at 20,970, 157 points above its previous close and rallied sharply above the 21,000 level to touch an intra-day high of 21,078. Steady to firm selling pressure thereafter saw the index plunge deep into the red to slip below the 20,700 mark and touch the low of 20,696. The Sensex managed to erase most of its losses on buying in most of the heavyweights and ended 61 points up at 20,873. The Nifty ended marginally up by 9 points at 6,288.

The breadth of the market was negative. Of the 2,922 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,369 stocks declined, 541 stocks advanced and 12 stocks ended unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices, all the sectoral indices except BSE IT index, BSE Teck index and BSE Bankex index were trading with the marginal gains. The BSE Metal index has dropped 3%, the BSE CD index has declined 2.93% and the BSE PSU index has shed 1.70% while BSE FMCG, Auto, HC, Oil & Gas, Reality and Power were in red at the close of trading.

Selective buying helped the index overcome its losses. Bharti Airtel flared up 4.01% at Rs974, HDFC Bank advanced 3.58% at Rs1,716, Satyam Computer rose 2.67% at Rs424.50 and SBI added 2.59% at Rs2,465. M&M, Reliance Communications, ONGC, TCS, Infosys and DLF witnessed steady gains.

Selling was evident in select heavyweight counters. Hindalco dropped 3.78% at Rs208.95, Tata Steel declined 3.66% at Rs891.80, Grasim tumbled 3.26% at Rs3,400.60, Maruti shed 2.43% at Rs939.65, ICICI Bank dipped 2.23% at Rs1,333.50, Reliance Energy moved down by 1.86% at Rs2,536 and HDFC 1.54% at Rs3,064.

BSE Metal stocks dropped sharply. Ispat Industries dipped 6.59% at Rs69.40, Nalco dropped 4.74% at Rs500.50, SH Precoated declined by 3.91% at Rs453.75. However, Bhushan Steel gained 3.73% at Rs1,607.95. Tisco, Jindal Saw, and Sterlite scaled down 3-2.50% each.

Over 52.21 lakh ITC shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Reliance Communications (41.53 lakh shares), NTPC (27.81 lakh shares), ONGC (15.66 lakh shares) and Hindalco (13.40 lakh shares).