Sensex closes 314 pts down on FIIs selling

Mumbai: The Indian markets crumbled under intense selling pressure with the Nifty surrendering the crucial 4,950 support level. Across the board selling in oil & gas, private banks, technology and steel stocks dragged the index sharply lower in late trade.

Uncertainty in Europe added to the woes. The Nifty closed the session at 4,934 down almost a 100 points while the BSE 30-share Sensex ended at 16,461 down 314 points.

The broader indices declined about 1.3 per cent. Meanwhile, the rupee too was on a weak wicket. The Indian currency showed some resistance in early trade, but soon resumed its downward trajectory.

According to Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS, the market is likely to trade in a 4,700-5,350 range. "Midcaps have capitulated and the market can go below the 4,700 level."

Interestingly, Nifty 5000 call added close to 14 lakh shares in open interest. Huge unwinding seen in 5000 Put options suggesting short covering by put writers who were shorting puts in hope of 5000 acting as base for the market. Nifty 4900 put added 14 lakh shares in open interest indicating more downside in the coming days.

Kapoor feels slowdown in earnings has been a big contributor to the market fall, "...including foreign exchange losses, earnings growth has been around 2 per cent,” he points out.

He believes Europe will remain a worry, and will continue to keep markets nervous.

European markets like France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE slipped 1.3-1.8 per cent post Spain and France CDS hit record highs. Euro fell post Spain's bond auction; Spain sold 3.6 billion euros at an average yield of 6.975 per cent.

As mentioned earlier, the rupee depreciated to 50.89 a dollar (down 0.30 per cent), which means that FIIs may have reduced some exposure to Indian equities. They have been net sellers since Tuesday.

“Sharp depreciation in the rupee has added severe blow to the situation. This will impact earnings of a lot of companies going forward,” Kapoor said.

Sharpest crack forced some largecaps to hit 52-week lows, which were BHEL, Maruti Suzuki, SAIL, PNB, BPCL and L&T.

The BSE Oil & Gas Index dropped 3.4 per cent due to 4.5 per cent fall in heavyweight Reliance Industries and 2.3 per cent in ONGC.

Power, Metal, Realty and Capital Goods indices were down 2-3 per cent; Auto, FMCG, Bank and Healthcare lost 1.4-1.8 per cent.

Volume has been rising since yesterday; total traded turnover was more than Rs 1.88 lakh crore.