Mumbai, Sept 13: In volatile trading, the BSE Sensex erased initial gains and fell 34 points to 16,467.44 today, amid weak global cues on resurgence of Greek debt crisis and fears of a possible downgrade of French banks, coupled with domestic worries of slow growth and high interest rates.
The BSE 30-share index opened high and reached 16,766.19, up about 265 points on firm Asian trends.
Later, it fell on weak European openings and touched a low of 16,374.68. It recovered some ground to settle at 16,467.44, a fall of 34.30 points or 0.21 per cent. Gains in top heavyweights - RIL and Infosys - cushioned the fall.
Sensex has fallen three sessions in a row, losing 700 points and erasing over Rs 1.16 lakh crore of investor wealth.
Similarly, the broad-based 50-issue Nifty moved between 5,030.15 and 4,911.05 before closing 5.85 points or 0.12 per cent lower than the previous close at 4,940.95.
Brokers attributed the initial gains to government's relaxation of norms for FII investment in long-term corporate bonds issued by infrastructure companies.
Auto, banking, pharma, capital goods reversed gains and closed with losses.
Selling in heavyweights like Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, SBI, Bharti Airtel, L&T, HDFC, ONGC, HUL and HDFC Bank weighed down the market.
“Till afternoon, market continued to trade with optimism supported by consistent buying in technology, metal, banking and capital goods. However, heavy selling in banking stocks and depreciating rupee took the markets off its highs. Worries over a possible downgrade of French banks led a fall in European markets, spreading to Asia,” said Shanu Goel Senior Research Analyst at Bonanza Portfolio.
Besides Infosys and RIL, gains in ITC, Jindal Steel, TCS and Bajaj Auto also helped arrest further fall.
Key indices in China, Singapore and Taiwan ended in the red, while Japan closed with gains. Hong Kong and South Korea markets were closed today.
European markets were trading lower in afternoon. The CAC was down 2.29 per cent, the DAX by 0.40 per cent and the FTSE by 0.67 per cent.
Meanwhile, FIIs sold shares worth Rs 934.74 crore yesterday as per provisional Sebi data, putting pressure on the market.
Overall, 18 out of 30 index-based scrips registered losses, while others gained. Tata Motors was the top loser from the Sensex with a fall of 4.61 per cent, followed by SBI (1.56 pc), HUL (1.36 pc), Jaipra Asso (1.31 pc), Bharti Airtel (1.23 pc), Cipla (1.20 pc), ONGC (1.17 pc), Sun Pharma (1.10 pc), ICICI Bank (0.92 pc), HDFC (0.69 pc) and L&T (0.67 pc).
However, DLF rose by 1.82 per cent, Jindal Steel (1.74 pc), Bajaj Auto (1.52 pc), Wipro (1.25 pc), Infosys (1.21 pc), Tata Steel (0.81 pc) and RIL (0.61 pc).
The total market breadth at BSE was near equal as 1,395 stocks closed with losses, while 1,397 ended with gains. The total turnover was slightly up at Rs 2,275.75 crore from Rs 2,264.45 crore yesterday. PTI
