Nifty under pressure; tech index down over 2%

The Nifty remained below the 4700 mark, weighed down by profit booking in technology, telecom, metals and capital goods stocks. Index heavyweights Reliance and ICICI Bank too were down. The Sensex was down 119 points to 15,566.43 and the Nifty fell 31 points to 4,662.30.

Asian markets were also moderately lower after investors raised doubts over money borrowed by banks from ECB in the 3-year long term refinancing operation (LTRO). Markets realised that these funds are likely to remain within the banking system instead of investment in sovereigns’ paper.

Back home, after a stellar rally yesterday, Sudarshan Sukhani of S2analytics.com expects a fairly choppy market today with a mild small downward bias.

The BSE IT Index underperformed other indices, falling over 2% on weak outlook from Oracle. Infosys was down 2.65% and Wipro fell 2.5%; TCS was down 1.4%.

Index heavyweights ICICI Bank, L&T and Bharti Airtel lost 1.3-1.8%. Reliance Industries, SBI and BHEL were marginally lower.

Metal stocks like Tata Steel, JSPL, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries dropped 1-2%.

However, shares of FMCG major HUL outperformed other largecaps, rising 2%. ITC, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Cipla, Maruti, Hero Motocorp and DLF were up 0.3-0.6% while NTPC gained 1%.

Market breadth was in favour of declines; about 869 shares advanced while 1113 shares slipped on the BSE.

At 9:19 hours IST : Sensex retreats on profit booking; tech, banks lose ground

The Sensex opened with 100 points gap down led by profit booking just after a jump of 510 points yesterday. Even Asian markets were down with moderate losses. Technology, banks, metals and capital goods stocks were down. The Sensex fell 163 points to 15,522.10 and the Nifty lost 44 poinst to 4,649.35.

Shares of Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, JSPL, Sterlite, SBI, Reliance Communications, Reliance Industries, L&T, JP Associates, Ranbaxy Labs, M&M and Bajaj Auto dragged down the market. Technology stocks dropped 1.5-2% after weak outlook from Oracle.

However, ACC, Ambuja Cements, Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL, Cipla and ITC offset some of the losses.

The CNX Midcap fell 50 points to 6,070.

Among the second line shares, Kingfisher Airlines, VIP Industries, Ashok Leyland, Indiabulls Real, Exide Industries, HCC, Pantaloon Retail, GTL, Jet Airways, Onelife, 3i Infotech, Educomp, Delta Corp, Sintex and Orchid Chemical were down between 2% and 3%.

However, SKS Microfinance shot up 5% after increase of FII investment limit.

Food Minister is in talks with Finance Ministry on sugar decontrol. This has boosted Bajaj Hindusthan by 2% and Balrampur Chini is up 4%.

About 3.5 shares declined for every share rising on the National Stock Exchange.