Sensex softens amid volatile trade

16 Apr 2014 , 05:54 AM

The BSE Sensex slipped 88 points or 0.5% at 16,693 after touching a high of 16,812 and a low of 16,613. The index opened at 16,679 against the previous close of 16,781. The NSE Nifty fell 31 points to shut shop at 4,955.

In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan was down 2.5%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX ended higher by 0.3% at 4,713. Shanghai SE Composite in China was down by 0.5% at 2,838. However, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended flat at 21,024.

In Europe, stocks were mixed. The FTSE in the UK was up 0.5%, The DAX in Germany was flat and the CAC 40 index in France was flat.
 
Coming back to India, among the BSE sectoral indices, the Metal index was the top loser, shedding 2.2%, followed by the IT index that was down 2% and the BSE Teck index was down 1.4%.
 
Among the major gainers were, BSE Pharma index gained 5%, BSE Consumer Durables index up 0.8% and BSE Oil & Gas index up 0.8%.

The BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.7% and the BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.9%.

Among the 30-components of Sensex, 20 stocks ended in the red and 10 ended in the positive terrain. Among the major laggards were ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Wipro, Tata Motors and TCS.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, ITC, ONGC and HDFC were among the major gainers.

Outside the frontline indices, the big losers in the broader market were Welspun Gujarat, Central Bank, HCL Tech and Yes Bank. On the other hand, gainers included GTL Infra, RCF, Biocon, IDBI Bank and Divi’s Lab.