Mumbai: Profit-booking in energy, auto, banking, infra and FMCG counters pulled down the benchmark index Nifty by 41 points but it held on to the 7,300-mark at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today. The market momentum was weak in the absence of any definite trigger as cautious investors resorted to selling ahead of expiry of May derivative contracts this week. However, some buying was seen in select IT, pharma and metal counters.
The market garnered hefty gains in pre and post-poll ralllies but sentiments were muted on a day when the new Ministers in the Narendra Modi Government took charge. Shares of mid and small-cap companies also witnessed huge selling pressure.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 84.13 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Asian stocks ended mixed with downward bias. The 50-share Nifty resumed up at 7,363.10 and traded between a high of 7,372.95 and a low of 7,274.75 before ending at 7,318.00, a fall 41.05 points, or 0.56 per cent, over the previous close.
Energy major GAIL dropped to 7.53 per cent, BHEL 5.21 per cent, PNB 2.73 per cent, Bank of Baroda 2.71 per cent and SBIN lost 2.69 per cent. Other major losers were IDFC, Tata Power, Coal India, ONGC and M&M. Among the gainers, Jindal Steel rallied 5.96 per cent, Tech Mahindra 2.72 per cent and Tata Steel 2.13 per cent. Other gainers included Infosys, Lupin, L&T, HDFC Bank, Hindalco, UltraTech and Grasim.
Turnover in the cash segment slumped to Rs 18,829.36 crore from Rs 30,160.44 crore yesterday. A total of 12,997.60 lakh shares changed hands in 83,45,538 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 82,91,569 crore.
