Sensex closes 17 points down

Sensex snaps 3-session rally; Tata Motors biggest loser.

Paring initial gains,the BSE barometer Sensex today snapped its three-day winning streak and closed the day nearly 17 points lower after investors became jittery amid a poor show by auto stocks led by Tata Motors and a negative opening in European markets.

The Sensex opened higher on firm Asian trends and remained in positive terrain touching a high of 17432 but sudden selling in the last hour pulled the benchmark down and it finally closed at 17,301.91 points.

Today’s loss comes after three days of straight gains in which the Sensex had risen by 188.14 points or 1.1 per cent.

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Tata Motors was the top loser from the Sensex pack at 3.82 per cent following a decline in sales in April 2012 and contributed over 25 points to the 30-share index’s fall.

Besides Tata Motors,ITC,L&T,ONGC,Maruti Suzuki,Tata Power,Bajaj Auto,Coal India and NTPC also ended with up to 3 per cent losses.

However,HDFC Bank,TCS,HUL and Bharti Airtel counters witnessed good buying support on promising earnings and cushioned the Sensex fall to some extent.

Auto,power and capital goods stocks suffered losses while some of the consumer durables,tech and IT counters were in demand.

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The NSE broad-based 50-issue Nifty today eased by 9.00 points or 0.17 per cent to close at 5,239.15.

FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever (HUL) scaled record high after strong Q4 results during trading and closed up by 2.08 per cent.

Asian shares closed higher on China’s improving manufacturing data in April and overnight strong US factory activity data eased concerns about a loss of momentum in the world’s biggest economy.

Key benchmark indices in China,Hong Kong,Japan,Singapore,Taiwan and South Korea ended up between 0.31 per cent and 2.33 per cent.

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However,European markets were trading mixed in their afternoon deals today. The CAC was up by 0.81 per cent,the DAX by 0.45 per cent while the FTSE was down by 0.43 per cent.

“Indian markets gave up all its gains during the late afternoon session and briefly slipped into red. Negative opening in the European markets made the sentiments jittery… they again witnessed selling pressure in the last half an hour of trading,” said Shanu Goel,Senior Research Analyst,Bonanza Portfolio.

In Sensex,18 out of 30 scrips closed with losses while others finished with gains. Maruti Suzuki dropped by 2.76 per cent,Tata Power by 2.27 per cent,Coal India by 1.90 per cent,NTPC by 1.63 per cent and ONGC by 1.02 per cent.

However,DLF rose by 2.73 per cent,followed by TCS (1.83 pc),Cipla (1.80 pc) and HDFC Bank (1.40 pc).

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The overall market breadth was negative was 1,465 stocks ended in the red while 1,333 that finished in the green.

The total turnover was up at Rs 1,805.40 crore from Rs 1,678.89 crore on Monday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 479.53 crore as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

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