A close below 6050 on the Nifty may lead to a fresh selloff

The Sensex opened at 20,203 while Nifty opened at 6,120 but almost immediately the market sold off and went into the negative. At the beginning of the session itself the benchmark hit their respective intra day high. Sensex hit a five day high (including today) at 20,216 while the Nifty hit a lower high at 6,125. After the opening of the European market the benchmark hit a higher low at 20,045 and 6,070. The market then moved in a narrow sideways range throughout the day finally ended marginally in the negative breaking the three consecutive day of gains. Sensex closed at 20,148 (down 13 points, 0.07%) while Nifty closed at 6,104 (down 7 points at 0.11%). The NSE saw volume of 51.08 crore shares.

US stocks closed in the positive last night after data showed that US home prices accelerated by the most in nearly seven years in March while consumer confidence picked up in May to its highest in more than five years. However, the indices suffered a steep drop from the intraday highs, signaling a rejection of prices at the current highs. At the time of writing the article, premarket futures were down 0.7%.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index fell 0.39% and the BSE Small-cap index fell 0.16%.

Among the sectoral indices the only five indices which gained were BSE Healthcare (up 1.82%); BSE Consumer Durables (up 0.82%); BSE FMCG (up 0.58%); BSE Auto (up 0.34%) and BSE Oil & Gas (up 0.12%). Among the loser were BSE Realty (down 2.50%); BSE Metal (down 1.13%); BSE Bankex (down 0.82%); BSE Power (down 0.77%) and BSE IT (down 0.64%).

Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, 12 settled higher. The major gainers were Sun Pharma (up 7.09%); Tata Motors (up 2.69%); Hero MotoCorp (up 2.39%); Coal India (up 1.30%) and Cipla (up 1.26%). The key losers were Sterlite Industries (down 2.53%); Tata Steel (down 2.27%); Jindal Steel (down 1.98%); Gail (down 1.50%) and ICICI Bank (down 1.38%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were— Sun Pharma (up 7.09%) and Ipca Lab (up 5.09%). The top two A Group losers on the BSE were— Wockhardt (down 10%) and Jaypee Infratech (down 9.95%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were— Aarvee Denims (up 20%) and Ricoh India (up 20%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were— Winsome Textile (down 19.90%) and Delta Leasing (down 18.64%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 17 ended in the in the green. The main gainers were Sun Pharma (up 7.03%); Tata Motors (up 2.77%); Hero MotoCorp (up 1.80%); Coal India (up 1.42%) and Lupin (up 1.13%). The major losers were

Jaiprakash Associates (down 3.91%); Ranbaxy (down 3.11%); Grasim (down 2.86%); Tata Steel (down 2.73%) and Jindal Steel (down 2.58%).

The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for China this year to 7.75% from 8%, citing a weak world economy and exports, adding to concerns that the world's second-largest economy is losing momentum.

Except for Hang Seng (fell 1.61%) and Straits Times (fell 1.13%) all the other Asian indices closed in the positive. The maximum gin was made by Taiwan Weighted (up 0.91%)

The European indices were trading deeply in the red while the US Future too were in the negative.

The board of directors of GTN Industries has decided to sell yarn processing and knitting business on slump sale basis as a going concern. The said proposal, in due course, is subject to approval of shareholders, CDR, lending institutions and other statutory authorities as applicable. The stock fell 4.94% to close at Rs 8.46 on the BSE.

The board of directors of Apollo Tyres gave their approval to the management to proceed with requisite approvals and compliances on a transaction with Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) by which SRI may take over Apollo Tyres South Africa (ATSA) including the Ladysmith Tyre plant and Dunlop Brand rights in Africa at a consideration of USD 60 million. The company will retain the Durban plant, through the Holding Company of ATSA, which manufactures Truck and Bus Radial Tyres and Off Highway Tyres. The closing of transaction is likely to take place in next 4 months. Apollo Tyres rose 0.11 to close at Rs 90.30 on the BSE.