Global cues pull Sensex down by 268 points

Bharti Airtel tanks over 8 per cent

 
Marketmen said huge fund raising by companies by way of public issues and qualified institutional placements (QIP) had given way to concerns over liquidity in secondary market.

After a particularly weak opening, the barometer index settled the day at 16,866.41, down by a significant 268.14 points or 1.56 per cent from its last close.

The decline followed 2.65 per cent gain in the previous three days which saw the Sensex closing above 17,000 level for the first time in 17 months. Markets defied stability in Europe as investors booked profits in a belated reaction to sharp losses in world stocks on Friday on lower than expected US job data.

Profit booking

“The market witnessed profit-booking in view of weakness noticed in the overseas markets when Indian bourses were closed. The number of declines was four times that of advances,” said Bonanza Portfolio Assistant V-P Avinash Gupta.

Blue-chip Bharti Airtel led the downslide at 8.05 per cent. The stock had jumped more than 4 per cent on last Thursday after merger talks with South Africa’s MTN were called off.Among sectoral indices, realty was the worst hit at 3.53 per cent. Tech, metal, bankex and auto lost in the range of 1-3 per cent. FMCG, however, defied the trend to post a gain of over 1 per cent.

Among Sensex losers, Bharti is closely followed by Grasim at 7.10 per cent after the company announced last weekend that it will transfer its cement business to its unlisted Samruddhi Cement.

Hindalco was down 6.75 per cent, Reliance Comm 5.60 per cent, DLF 3.95 per cent, Sterlite 3.59 per cent, SBI 3.53 per cent, Tata Motors 3.28 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 3.17 per cent.

Defying weak trends, FMCG shares attracted fairly buying. ITC gained 2.58 per cent and Nestle 2.33 per cent.

The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange tumbled by 80.20 points or 1.58 per cent to close at 5,003.20 from its previous close.

The market breadth was extremely negative with 1,988 losers against 782 gainers on the BSE.The trading volume was sharply down at 5,369.40 crore compared to Rs 6,551.16 crore on October 1. Bharti Airtel clocked the day’s highest turnover of Rs 259.41 crore.