Business
Sensex ends 245 points in red after range-bound trading
Mumbai, April 15
After remaining range-bound
for the bulk of Wednesday's trading session, the 30-share sensitive
index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended with a loss of
244.75 points, with the mood unaffected by official data showing further
deceleration in inflation.
Analysts attributed the fall to
profit-booking after a bull run over the past week. They said the
markets also turned cautious, ahead of the corporates announcing their
fourth quater results for the financial year 2014-15.
The Sensex
was trading within a range of around 120 points throughout the day. But
the final 45 minutes of the session saw a drop from the day's high of
29,094.61 points to a low of 28,721.63 points, before making a marginal
recovery.
At the closing bell, the index was down 0.84 percent at 28,799.69 points.
The
story was similar at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) where the
broader, 50-share Nifty was down 83.80 points or 0.95 percent and ended
the day's trade at 8,750.20.
On the BSE, only seven out of the 30
shares that constitute the Sensex managed to remain in the green, led
by Sesa Sterlite, up 3.32 percent at Rs.207.20. The worst loser of the
day was Bharat Heavy Electricals, down 3.43 percent at Rs.1,209.50.
Heavy
selling pressure was seen in auto, healthcare, capital goods and
information technology (IT) sectors, while marginal good buying was
observed in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.
Among the
sector-specific indices that ended in the red were healthcare index
(1.55 percent), auto (1.49 percent), tech (1.47 percent), IT (1.46
percent) and realty (1.37 percent). The gainers were led by FMCG (16.06
percent), followed by oil and gas (0.17 percent).
The major
Sensex gainers on Wednesday were: IDBI, up 3.62 percent at Rs.78.65;
SSLT, up 3.32 percent at Rs.207.20, Bank of India, up 2.53 percent at
Rs.226.65; and Federal Bank, up 2.40 percent at Rs.132.35.
The
major losers were: Shriram Transport Finance Co.Ltd, down 4.21 percent
at Rs.1098.25; GM Infra, down 3.49 percent at Rs.17.95; BHEL, down 3.43
percent at Rs.233.55; and Mahindra & Mahindra, down 3.26 percent at
Rs.1209.50.