India Stock Market: Sensex Down 138.38 Points On Wednesday

Sensex down 138.38 points on Wednesday (May 13, 2009)
-investors cautious ahead of exit polls

Sensex (^BSESN: 12019.65 -138.38 -1.14%) fell 138.38 points or 1.1% to 12019.65.
Nifty (^NSEI: 3635.25 -45.85 -1.25%) fell 45.85 points or 1.3% to 3635.25.
Mid Cap index fell 0.1%. Small Cap dipped 0.5%.
BSE 500 was down 0.8%. Sensex losers: 23
All 13 BSE Sectoral indices, 12 posted losses.
Advancers: 1142, Decliners: 1346, Unchanged: 92
Decliners outpaced advancers by a ratio: 5:4.

Sensex Day’s Range: 12256.43 - 11934.44
Nifty Days Range: 3709.60 - 3610.20
52-Week Range: 17497.36 - 7697.39
52-week % change: -31.30

Sensex losers included Tata Steel -3.8%, Sterlite Ind -3.3%, Maruti -3.2%, JP Associates -3.2%, Mahindra & Mahindra -3%, ONGC -2.9% and State Bank -2.6%.

Sensex gainers were ACC +2.9%, HDFC +2.6%, Grasim +1.7%, Ranbaxy Labs +1.1%, Tata Motors +0.6%, Reliance Infra +0.2% and Hindalco +0.1%.

Metal index fell 2.1% led by Tata Steel -3.7%, Sterlite Ind -3.5%, ONGC -3.4%, JP Associates -2.9%, Maruti -2.7% and State Bank -2.6%.

IT index dipped 1.6% helped by NIIT -6.1%, HCL Tech -3.9%, NIIT Tech -3.7%, Financial Tech -3.4%, Aptech -2.9% and TCS -2.4%.

FMCG index tanked 1.5% aided by United Breweries -3.8%, Tata Tea -2.4%, Nestle -2.2%, ITC -1.9% and HUL -1.5%.

PSU index slipped 1.5% assisted by STC India -5.3%, Neyveli Lignite -5%, ONGC -3.4%, UCO Bank -3%, Hind Copper -3%, SAIL -3% and NMDC -2.7%.

Other sectoral losers were: Oil & Gas -1.4%, Bankex -1.1%, Power -1%, Realty -1%, Teck -0.9%, Capital Goods -0.6%, Auto -0.5% and Healtcare -0.5%.

Consumer Durables was the only sector, which rose 0.1%.

Volume Shockers on the BSE:
DLF 179.85 million shares, Unitech 22.26 mln shares, Suzlon 21.71 mln and Rel Natural 13.69 mln shares

Buzzers:
Take Solutions +20% at Rs 26.40, Hitech Plast +18.9% at Rs 53.80, Elecon Engg +14.1% at Rs 55.50, KEC International +13.4% at Rs 305 and GMR Ferro Alloys +11.1% at Rs 28.90.

Heavy Losers:
Savera Hotels -11.1% at Rs 23.50, EPIC Energy -9.9% at Rs 27.25, Venus Ventures -9.8% at Rs 27.95, IST Ltd -9% at Rs 66, Parle Software -9% at Rs 59 and Polaris Soft -7.5% at Rs 78.05.

Blue Star Info surges 12 pct:
The shares of Blue Star Info surged over 12 per cent to Rs 72.85 on announcement of good results. The company posted an EPS of Rs 15.6 on a small equity of Rs 10 crore and declared a dividend of 50 per cent.

Suzlon promoters sell 2 pct equity:
The Tulsi Tanti family, promoters of wind turbine company Suzlon Energy, raised about Rs 230 crore by selling about 2% of their stake in the wind turbine company, according to sources close to the development. The family which after the stake sale owns about 64% in Suzlon, said in a statement on Wednesday that it sold the 30 million shares.

Piramal Lifesciences hits upper circuit of 5 pct:
Shares of Piramal Lifesciences hit the upper circuit limit Wednesday following the company’s announcement that it has received regulatory approval by the Drug Controller General of India to conduct two Phase I/II combination studies for its cancer molecule P276 for pancreatic and head and neck cancer. The share surged 5 per cent to Rs 51.50 on the BSE.

HDFC up after upgrading:
Housing Development Finance Corp rose 2.6 percent to Rs 1,897.10 rupees after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to “overweight” from “equalweight” and raised its price target to Rs 2,150 from Rs 1,600.

Inflation expectation:
India’s annual inflation rate is expected to have fallen back towards zero at the start of May after rising in the previous three weeks, a Reuters poll of analysts showed on Wednesday.
The median forecast of 11 analysts was for 0.3 percent rise in the wholesale price index in the 12 months to May 2, compared with a 0.7 percent rise the previous week.
Crude:
An unexpected drop in US crude inventories propelled oil prices to near $60 on Wednesday on indications that demand may be picking up.

China factory output growth slows, retail sales surge:
China’s factory output growth slowed in April, providing fresh evidence a day after poor export data that recovery in the world’s third-largest economy is not yet on a rock-solid footing.

However, the pace of retail sales growth surprisingly accelerated, offering encouragement to policymakers that consumers, who bought cars last month at a record clip, are helping to compensate for weakness in the industrial sector.

Asian Markets:
Straits Times was up 1.2% and Jakarta Composite gained 2.09%. Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng went up 0.65% each. Nikkei, Kospi and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.3% each.

European Markets:
European markets were ruling mixed; FTSE -1.1%, DAX -2.2% and CAC -1.1%.

Concern:
A weak coalition could emerge just as the country battles an economic slowdown