Most likely for the next few days the rally will be met by selling unless the indices manage to close above any previous day’s high
 

The market settled lower for the second day in a row on selling in auto and banking stocks. Most likely for the next few days the rally will be met by selling unless the indices manage to close above any previous day’s high. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) registered a turnover of 55.74 crore shares and advance-decline of 498:909.

The Indian market started the day on a flat note in the absence of any global or domestic triggers. Markets in Asia were mixed in morning trade as investors waited for an announcement from the US Federal Reserve on the duration of its bond-buying programme. US markets settled marginally lower on Monday on profit taking which led to paring of early gains.

The Nifty opened five points lower at 6,152 and the Sensex started the day at 20,227, up three points over its previous close. Buying in IT, oil & gas, PSU and consumer durables stocks led the benchmarks higher in early trade. But the indices could not sustain the early gains and trended lower after about an hour of trade.

Meanwhile, Phaneesh Murthy, the once upon a time blue-eyed boy of the IT industry has been sacked by iGate Corp, after having to quit Infosys over a sexual harassment scandal. A statement by iGate innocuously says that Murthy was sacked for not disclosing his relationship with a subordinate. This follows investigation for sexual harassment against Murthy, one of the country's best IT marketers. Murthy's second sacking over the sexual harassment issue has stunned the industry. Ironically, when Phaneesh Murthy was thrown out of Infosys, he left with enormous anger and claimed that he was wrongfully targeted.

The market was range-bound in the negative terrain till the noon session weighed down by realty, auto, power, healthcare and capital goods stocks. But buying in select stocks enabled the market to emerge into the green in post-noon trade. The gains helped the market hit its intraday high around 2.00pm. The Nifty went up to 6,180 and the Sensex rose to 20,308.

However, intense volatility resulted in the market slipping into the red once again. Weak European markets and selling pressure in auto and banking stocks weighed down on the market.

The benchmarks touched their lows towards the end of the trading session with the Nifty going back to 6,102 and the Sensex falling to 20,073. The market closed near the lows and down for the second day in a row.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index declined 0.62% and the BSE Small-cap index fell 0.43%.

BSE IT (up 0.80%); BSE TECk (up 0.44%) and BSE Consumer Durables (up 0.01%) were the sectoral gainers today. The main losers were BSE Realty (down 2.59%); BSE Auto (down 1.75%); BSE Power (down 1.06%); BSE PSU (down 1%) and BSE Bankex (down 0.88%).

Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, nine settled higher. The key gainers were Coal India (up 2.11%); BHEL (up 1.83%); TCS (up 1.03%); Infosys (up 0.92%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.78%). The key losers were NTPC (down 4.21%); Tata Motors (down 3.06%); Maruti Suzuki (down 2.49%); State Bank of India (down 2.16%) and Tata Steel (down 2.11%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Adani Power (up 12.21%) and Emami (up 5.08%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Divi’s Laboratories (down 7.29%) and Bajaj Finance (down 5.58%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Uniply Industries (up 20%) and Sita Shree Food Products (up 18.75%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Cords Cable Industries (down 19.44%) and Emmsons International (down 19.35%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 14 ended in the in the green. The main gainers were Coal India (up 2.36%); BHEL (up 1.61%); TCS (up 1.40%); HCL Technologies (up 1.345) and Infosys (up 1.06%). The major losers were UltraTech Cement Company (down 4.87%); NTPC (down 4.42%); Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.94%); Grasim Industries (down 3.17%) and DLF (down 3.04%).

The Nifty settled 43 points (0.70%) lower at 6,114 and the Sensex declined 112 points (0.56%) to end the session at 20,112.

Markets across Asia closed mixed. The Hang Seng settled lower as the Goldman Sachs Group sold its $1.1 billion stake in Hong Kong listed ICBC. Investors await announcements from the Bank of Japan and US Fed at the end of their two-day meeting on Wednesday.

The Shanghai Composite rose 0.22%; the KLSE Composite gained 0.58%; the Nikkei 225 added 0.13% and the Taiwan Weighted settled 0.07% higher. Among the losers, the Hang Seng fell 0.54%; the Jakarta Composite declined 0.50%; the Straits Times shed 0.30% and the Seoul Composite lost 0.07%.

At the time of writing, the CAC 40 of France was down 0.385; the DAX of Germany fell 0.18% and UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.17%. At the same time, the US stock futures were mixed with a negative bias.

Back home, inflows from foreign institutional investors were offset by withdrawals by domestic institutional investors on Monday. While FIIs pooled in Rs753.37 crore in the equities segment, DIIs took away Rs764.32 crore.

Amid reports of Reliance Infrastructure exiting big projects due to delay in regulatory clearances, the company said it is awaiting nod from government agencies to commence work on some stalled projects worth Rs20,000 crore. The stock declined 2.26% to close at Rs415 on the NSE.

The Directorate-General of Central Excise Intelligence has filed a case against Bhushan Steel for evasion of central excise duty of about Rs 24 crore.
 

Bhushan Steel is a manufacturer of hot and cold rolled galvanised products. Officials have been booked for fraudulent procurement of Cenvat credit on zinc ingots purchased from Hindustan Zinc, Haridwar. Bhushan Steel rose 0.05% to close at Rs464.55 on the NSE.