Sensex ends 64 points lower on expiry day (Roundup)
By IANSThursday, October 28, 2010
MUMBAI - Intense selling in the last minutes of trade pulled down benchmarks of Indian equities as investors off-loaded their long positions on the October future series expiry day Thursday.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,116.49 points, closed at 19,941.04 points, down 64.33 points or 0.32 percent from its previous close at 20,005.37 points.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty ended at 5,996.75 points, down 0.26 percent.
Broader markets also closed lacklustre. The BSE midcap index ended 0.64 percent lower, while the BSE smallcap index moved 0.53 percent down.
Realty, consumer durables, power and metal stocks ended in the red, while auto scrips moved up modestly.
Top Sensex gainers at this time were Bharti Airtel, up 2.62 percent at Rs.330.45; Hero Honda, up 2.2 percent at Rs.1,901.25; HDFC, up 1.88 percent at Rs.692.30, and HDFC Bank, up 0.74 percent at Rs.2,272.70.
Among the losers were Jaiprakash Associates, down 2.24 percent at Rs.122.40; DLF, down 2.22 percent at Rs.355.15; NTPC, down 1.79 percent at Rs.195.20, and Tata Steel, down 1.57 percent at Rs.604.75.
The market breadth was tilted towards the negative, with 1,167 stocks advancing, 1,770 declining and 152 remaining unchanged.
According to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), foreign institutional investors bought scrips worth $21.95 million Thursday.
FII fund inflows have crossed $6.54 billion so far in October, with yearly inflows touching almost $25 billion.
Other Asian markets too were trading dull with speculation still rife over how much stimulus the US Federal Reserve would pump in to revive a faltering recovery in the world’s largest economy.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shut shop 0.2 percent up at 23,210.86 points, while the Japanese Nikkei closed 0.22 percent down at 9,366.03 points.
The Shanghai Composite index ended at 2,992.58 points, down 0.15 percent.
European bourses moved up afer the region’s corporates posted better-than-expected earnings results, boosting sentiments.
Around mid-day, Britain’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.63 percent higher at 5,681.82 points.
The German DAX was up 0.54 percent at 6,603.2 points, while the French CAC 40 was 0.58 percent higher at 3,837.79 points.
