Sensex drops for fifth consecutive week

The rupee’s sharp decline against the US dollar to Rs 51 level fulled fears of inflated import bill,especially on account of oil. This will lead to further worsening of fiscal deficit situation and ultimately impact the overall as well as retail inflation negatively.

Besides,the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in a draft report that the Government lost Rs 10.67 lakh crore on account of allotment of coal blocks to 100 private and public sector companies without auction during 2004-2009.

“A mix of domestic and global factors hurt investor sentiment. The leakage of the draft CAG draft report weighed markets down. The weakening rupee further spooked sentiments,” said Ashika Stock Brokers,Research Head,Paras Bothra.

The Sensex moved higher at 17,531.47 and hovered in a wide range of 17,687.01 and 17,136.50 before ending the week at 17,361.74,showing a net loss of 104.46 points,or 0.60 per cent. It has lost 927.61 points,or 5.07 per cent,in straight five weeks.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved down further by 39.70 points,or 0.75 per cent,to end at 5,278.20. It has also lost 286.10 points,or 5.14 per cent,in last five weeks.

The move by the Railway Minister to roll back some of the tough proposals in the railway budget due to populist demands also unnerved investors.

Out the 30-share Sensex pack,20 scrips declined while 10 others firmed up.

Major losers from the Sensex pack were Jindal Steel (6.80 pct),Hindalco Ind (6.23 pct),Tata Power (5.77 pct),Tata Motors (4.80 pct),Maruti (4.74 pct),Reliance Ind (3.62 pct),State Bank Of India (2.81 pct),BHEL (2.72 pct),Coal India (2.22 pct) and ONGC (2.20 pct).

However,Sun Pharma rose by 6.22 per cent,HUL 3.29 per cent,Hero Motocorp (3.21 pct),ITC (2.94 pct),Bharti Airtel (2.66 pct),M&M (1.74 pct),TCS (1.47 pct) and HDFC Bank (1.21 pct).

Among the major indices the BSE-Metal fell by 2.54 pct followed by he BSE-Power 2.50 pct,the BSE-Oil & gas 2.20 pct,the BSE-IPO 2.20 pct,the BSE-Auto 1.53 pct,the BSE-PSU 1.32 pct and the BSE-Capital Goods by 1.31 pct.

However,the BSE-FMCG shot up by 2.77 pct and the BSE-HC by 1.77 pct.

The total turnover at BSE and NSE fell to Rs 13,687.14 crore and Rs 61,312.15 crore,respectively,from the last weekend’s level of Rs 15,706.25 crore and Rs 70,560.33 crore,respectively.

Oils and oilseeds: Edible oils prices strengthened,while non-edible oils weakened at the oils and oilseeds market during the week.

Groundnut oil prices surged to a new peak during the fag-end trade on consistent demand from stockists and exporters following supply constraints from producing belts.

Refined palmolein also hardened on heavy retail demand on the back of bullish Malaysian cues.

Castorseeds bold and castoroil commercial,however,slumped owing to poor enquiries from shippers and soap industries.

Linseed oil continued its stable trend in the absence of market moving factors.

Castorseeds futures encountered volatility and fell to speculative selling amidst subdued export enquiries.

The market was closed on Thursday on account of ‘Gudi Padwa’.

In the edible oils segment,groundnut oil resumed steady at Rs 1,170 and climbed further to close at a new high of Rs 1,185 from last Saturday’s closing levels of Rs 1,170,showing a net gain of Rs 15 per 10 kg.

Refined palmolein opened higher at Rs 594,though edged down to Rs 593 before spurting back to close at Rs 603 from last weekend’s level of Rs 590,disclosing a good gain of Rs 13 per 10 kg.

Turning to the non-edible section,Castorseeds bold resumed lower at Rs 3,590 and drifted further to end at Rs 3,550 from previous weekend’s level of Rs 3,620,showing a fall of Rs 70 per 100 kg.

Castoroil commercial opened lower at Rs 748 and declined to finish at Rs 740 from preceding weekend’s level of Rs 754,showing a loss of Rs 14 per 10 kg.

Linseed oil remained unaltered at Rs 900 per 10 kg.

Moving to the futures section,castorseeds for June delivery resumed higher at Rs 3,680 but fell to a low of Rs 3,608 before closing at Rs 3,620 from previous closing level of Rs 3,676,disclosing a fall of Rs 56 per tonne.