Sensex dumps 100 pts

The race to book profits on expiry day has gained momentum. Fresh shorts were built in technology, banking, telecom and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group' stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 16,179, down 106 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 37 points to 4,852 amid volatility. 

The broader indices too were following the trend; the BSE Midcap Index was down 1% and Smallcap down 0.7%.

On the sectoral front, the BSE Metal and IT indices fell 2% each. Capital Goods, Bank and Power indices were down 1-1.5%.

Leading largecaps like TCS, Infosys, HDFC, L&T, Bharti, SBI, NTPC, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank dropped 1-2.5%. Reliance Industries, BHEL and Wipro declined over 0.5%.

However, ONGC, Sun Pharma and Tata Motors bucked the trend; these stocks lost 2-2.5%.

Smallcaps like Sahara One, Carol Info, Kirloskar Brothers, Unisys Software and Thomas Cook gained 5-10% while Modern India plunged 16%. Himatsingka Seide, C & C Construction, Lovable Lingerie, DCM Shriram and fell 6-8%.

 Sensex falls further amid choppy trade; banks, tech down

The BSE benchmark Sensex slipped more than 50 points and the Nifty fell way below the 4900 level amid choppy trade. Even the market breadth turned in favour of declines; about two shares declined for every one share gained. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 16,208, down 76 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 28 points to 4,860 led by fall in 38 stocks.

Technology, banking, power, capital goods, telecom and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group stocks and select metal stocks were witnessing selling presure. Heavyweight Reliance Industries too was on sellers' radar; the stock declined 0.7%.

However, ONGC, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Tata Power were top gainers; these stocks gained 1-2%. HUL, Dr Reddy's Labs and DLF too gained.

In the midcap space, Standard Chartered, Simplex Infra, GMDC, Emami and ABG Shipyard were up 1.5-4% while KGN Industries, Sterlite Tech, Educomp Solutions, Aban Offshore and IVRCL slipped 4-5%.

Even some Asian markets saw some profit booking at higher levels. Kospi, which rose 1.5%, was trading 0.5% higher. Even Nikkei slipped from day's high. Taiwan extended loss; it lost 0.9%.

Coal India overtakes Reliance Industries as most valuable company

State-run Coal India today toppled billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries as the country's most valued company, with a slightly higher market valuation around mid-day.

At around 1200 hours on the National Stock Exchange, Coal India Ltd (CIL) commanded a market cap of Rs 250,759.67 crore, with an over 2 per cent rise in its share price. At that time, RIL had a market cap of Rs 250,580.21 crore on the NSE.

A few minutes later, CIL's market valuation exceeded that of RIL on the BSE as well. At around 1206 hrs, RIL's market cap on the BSE stood at Rs 2,50,468 crore, slightly lower than CIL's Rs 2,50,538 crore.

At 1206 hours today, RIL shares were trading 0.82 per cent higher at Rs 765.20, while CIL was up 2.32 per cent at Rs 396.60.

CIL has been closing the gap on RIL in terms of market valuation over the past few days and on August 9, the gap slipped below 1 per cent.

RIL extended its lead by some margin since then, but the PSU coal giant managed to surpass the private sector energy giant's market capitalisation in today's trade at around 1200 hours.

At yesterday's close, RIL had a market cap of Rs 248,504.44 crore, as against CIL's 244,822.28 crore, on the BSE.

At the time of today's market opening also, RIL had a higher market cap of Rs 249,454 crore than CIL's Rs 244,822 crore.

Way back in 2006, RIL had toppled ONGC to emerge as the country's most valued firm and has managed to stay on the top since then.

ONGC had also come very close to toppling RIL as the country's most valued firm last week, but lost ground in the past few trading sessions. The stock was trading 2.4 per cent higher at Rs 279.50, with a market cap of Rs 2,39,125 crore, in today's trade at 1220 hours.

Marketmen would be keenly watching the three stocks to see whether RIL is able to regain its lead or loses further ground in the market-cap charts.

RIL's stock has been under acute pressure in recent past, while ONGC and CIL have managed to outperform in a weak market on several occasions in the past few days.

Sensex Market tanks 445 pts.

The markets took a big knock following a crash in global markets on fears of the world's largest economy—US seeing another recession despite the recent increase in debt limit.

Sensex maintained a loss of more than 400 points led by sell-off across the globe. All sectoral indices were under selling pressure. However, only ONGC and BPCL were in the green.A bout 17 shares were falling for every one share rising on National Stock Exchange.

Top losers were Sterlite Industries, Reliance Infrastructure, Jaiprakash Associates, M&M, TCS and HCL Tech, which lost 5-7% each.

Heavy weights like Infosys, RIL, ICICI bank are also trading weak. Market breadth was negative on the NSE with 2497 losers against 722 gainers.The Asian markets were plunged on renewed concerns of global economy coming to a stall. Nikkei 225 down 3.59 per cent, Hang Seng fell 4.75 per cent and Taiwan Weighted plunged 4.92 per cent.


However, BPCL and ONGC gained 1-2% on the back of fall in crude oil prices to USD 86 a barrel. HPCL shares rose by 2% at Rs. 403 with the gain of Rs. 11. BPCL and IOC are both up by 1% each at Rs. 699 and Rs. 333, respectively.

Investor sentiment has also been hammered by a lack of clear political leadership in both Europe and in Washington, and concern that governments and central banks are running out of fiscal and monetary ammunition to deal with the crises.

Ex-aides of ONGC case suspects

MUMBAI: The 13/7 blasts investigators are trying to keep tabs on the activities of men named by Latif Rashid and Riyaz Ali Imtiyaz, the two suspects who allegedly planned to set the Mumbai ONGC headquarters on fire. Imtiyaz, who worked at Mangaldas market near Zaveri Bazar, was also accused of doing a recce of the bazar area.

The two were arrested in March 2010 for planning terror strikes at ONGC, a Borivili mall and Mangaldas market. At Zaveri Bazaar, a powerful bomb killed nine people on July 13. The duo was arrested by the state Anti-Terrorism Suad (ATS). "The investigators are going back to their interrogation reports and statements. The duo had mentioned a few names and therefore it's necessary to check everyone. We are not naming any specific person responsible for the blasts, but we also don't want to take any chances," said a senior police official.

The duo had befriended several other youths in the city who were later "neutralized" by police. "Some of them have become witnesses in the ONGC case," said the officer. The police teams want to know if the neutralized youths had information about Wednesdays' blasts.