Limelight gets off Sensex as other indices thrive
20-May-2009 •Research Desk
Markets continued to be volatile on Wednesday, after a sensational market-stopping rally on Monday and a turnover-topping Tuesday, ending today on a bitter-sweet day in negative territory.
After a gap down opening early on, markets recovered a little and entered positive territory with the Sensex up by 73 points at 11.20 am (IST), but it was unable to sustain the upturn and fell into negative territory by 12.50 pm (IST), with the index down 1.44 per cent at 14,096.39. It stayed there, thereafter.
Sensex closed at 14,060.66 down 1.69 per cent while Nifty lost 1.11 per cent to close at 4270.30.
It is quite noteworthy to know, despite the day's negative news, Sensex has gained by a whopping 75 per cent since 9 March, 2009 till 18 May, 2009. On the NSE Nifty, the change is reflected by another big number, 68.01 per cent for the same period. However, while big brothers bit the dust, after flying high, the small fry took centre stage.
The reason attributed to the fall of Sensex was profit-booking at higher levels as some of the foreign cues, while not really being positive, were neither quite negative -- Dow Jones closed 0.34 per cent down. However, elsewhere on the Bombay Stock Exchange there was merry-making aplenty.
While Monday and Tuesday saw all the limelight falling on the Sensex and Nifty, today was surely the day of mid- and small-cap stocks. BSE Small-cap and BSE Mid-cap outperformed the Sensex significantly by turning in huge gains of 8.86 per cent and 6.03 per cent respectively.
BSE Small-cap closed at 5,208.18 against previous close of 4,784.14, while BSE Mid-cap ended the day at 4,673.77 against yesterday’s close of 4,407.82.
Consequently, among the Sensex stocks 14 stocks, that is 47 per cent, were in negative zone while in BSE Small-cap only 23 stocks, that is around five per cent, and in BSE Mid-cap 23 stocks, that is around 10 per cent stocks, ended below previous day’s close.
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As far as specific sectors are concerned, eight out of the total 13 indices stayed afloat with positive returns. BSE Consumer Durables was on the top with gains of 9.69 per cent and following it is the BSE Metal with gains of 5.22 per cent. While on the other side, BSE Bankex and BSE Oil & Gas turned out to be the biggest losers with a negative return of 2.45 per cent and 2.09 per cent respectively..
On the bullion market, as equity dived, investors started moving their funds from stocks to precious metals causing gold prices to climb after days of disappointment. Gold prices jumped by Rs 200 to Rs 14,580 per 10 grammes.
Silver did not lag by much either. Prices rose by as much as Rs 500 to Rs 22,300 per kilogramme.
On the rupee front too there was a surge as the Indian currency recorded yet another day of gains, increasing in strength by 31 paise to 47.47/48 against the US dollar. The currency has gained by over 4 per cent over the last four days. The cause is the steady flow of foreign capital into equity which is driving the rupee up.
However, as the rupee appreciated investors in IT stocks got worried enough to start selling in large quantities.
(See also: Rally Runners)
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