Sensex closes 63 points down

Fag-end value buying contained intra-day losses today.

The BSE Sensex partially recovered intra-day losses on fag-end buying to regain the 17k mark and closed at 17,058.61,down 63 points amid today8217;s settlement in this month8217;s derivative contracts and weak global markets.

The stock market remained in bear-grip for most of the day as investors off-loaded pending positions on expiry of March derivative contracts and weak cues from Asia and Europe.

Besides,falling rupee ignited fears of inflation on account of costly imports and raised concerns that RBI may not cut interest rates at next month8217;s monetary policy meet.

A weak trend in the global markets further influenced the sentiment. Key Asian markets closed in the red,and European equities were also trading weak in the afternoon deals.

8220;Taking cue from other Asian markets India also opened lower, but in the last quarter a good rally came which covered the gaps left in the morning,8221; said Hemant Mamtani executive director WellIndia.

As far as monthly derivative clearing is concerned it is approximately 5.50 per cent below last month8217;s clearing levels,he said.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer,which was down by over 200 points intra-day,improved somewhat and settled the day at 17,058.61,down 63.01 or 0.37 per cent.

Yesterday,it was down 135.74 points or 0.79 per cent.

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The NSE 50-issue index Nifty moved between 5,194.30 and 5,135.95 before concluding at 5,178.85,displaying a slightly slide of 15.90 points or 0.31 per cent.

Sensex heavyweights Infosys,Lamp;T,TCS,ITC,Bharti Airtel,SBI and HDFC Bank closed in the red,while Jindal Steel,HDFC,ONGC and Tata Power attracted good buying.

Marketmen said expansion in the eight core industries by 6.8 per cent in February,against 6.4 per cent in the same period last year also improved sentiment to an extent,although it weakened chances of cut in RBI policy rates.

Key indices in China,Hong Kong,Japan,Singapore,South Korea and Taiwan were down by up to 2.06 per cent. Indices in France CAC,Germany Dax and Britain FTSE were down by close to a per cent.

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Overall,16 of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in the red. Lamp;T dipped by 2.09 per cent,followed by Infosys 1.78 pc,TCS 1.71 pc,Bharti Airtel 1.60 pc,BHEL 1.35 pc,HUL 0.95 pc,SBI 0.94 pc and ITC 0.90 pc.

However,Jindal Steel rose 4.42 per cent,Tata Power 8211; 2.99 pc,Hero MoroCorp 8211; 1.55 pc,Wipro 8211; 1.27 pc,ONGC 8211; 1.14 pc and Bajaj Auto 8211; 1.11 pc.

Among the sectoral indices,the BSE-Capital Goods dropped 1.61 pc,IT 8211; 1.17 pc and Teck 8211; 1.01 pc. However,Healthcare rose 0.92 pc,Consumer Durables 8211; 0.88 pc and Auto 0.67 8211; pc.

Despite the fall in Sensex,the total market breadth turned positive on good buying support in second-line stocks as 1,539 counters closed with gains,as against 1,270 that ended with losses.

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The total turnover dropped sharply to Rs 2,003.70 crore from Rs 3,685.71 crore yesterday.

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