Sensex ends 29 pts lower; telecom stocks plunge

Surprisingly, RIL scrip also fell by 2.73 per cent to 1,029.15, becoming the second biggest loser in the index

Market benchmark BSE Sensex, on Thursday, erased its early gains to end lower by 29 points, halting 3-day winning run, following emergence of sell-off mainly in telecom stocks after new entrant Reliance Jio came out with free voice calls and cheaper data tariffs.

In early trade, investors seemed cautious in view of overnight dismal GDP data -- showing the economy grew at its slowest pace in six quarters -- and subdued infrastructure output data, while most of the participants preferred wait and watch policy in need of a direction ahead of US jobs report due on Friday, which would signal Fed's next move on rate hike.

The Sensex resumed higher at 28,459.09 and firmed up to a high of 28,548.85 on sustained buying by funds and retail investors. But, it fell afterwards to 28,386.61 before ending at 28,423.48, showing a loss of 28.69 points or 0.10 per cent.

The 50-share NSE Nifty moved down by 11.55 points or 0.13 per cent to 8,774.65 after touching a high of 8,813.25 and a low of 8,759.95 intra-day.

Telecom shares came under heavy selling pressure today after RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani announced a slew of announcements to woo customers, offering them free voice calling and cheaper data tariffs.

Bharti Airtel with a plunge of 6.37 per cent to 310.70 was the worst hit from the Sensex pack. Idea Cellular tanked 10.48 per cent to Rs 83.70 -- its 52-week low on the BSE.

Surprisingly, RIL scrip also fell by 2.73 per cent to 1,029.15, becoming the second biggest loser in the index.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd, said, "Market was very volatile, swinging between positive and negative territory. The telecom sector was the biggest loser followed by cement. Telecom was negative due to the launch of Reliance Jio, while cement was negative due to the penalty from CCI."

"We saw profit-booking today post the subdued domestic GDP and core industries data. Globally, investors are awaiting the US employment and payroll data which will be released tomorrow, which will give cues on FED rate hike," he added.

Sentiment turned somewhat weaker after data released, on Thursday, showed the Indian economy grew at the slowest pace in the last six quarters at 7.1 per cent in the April-June period of current fiscal mainly on subdued performance of mining, construction and farm sectors.

Besides, the growth of eight core infrastructure sectors slowed to 3.2 per cent in July compared to 5.2 per cent in June this year due to subdued performance of coal, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity segments.

Cement stocks also felt the heat today after the Competition Commission yesterday imposed more than Rs 6,700 crore penalty on 11 companies, including ACC and Binani, for cartelisation.

ACC, Ambuja Cement and Jaiprakash Associates were under selling pressure and fell by up to 4.20 per cent.

Bucking the overall trend, auto stocks led by Tata Motors, M&M, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki rose up to 1.15 per cent largely on the back of monthly sales figures for August.

Other gainers include Gail 2.08 per cent, followed by Coal India 1.32 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.24 per cent, Lupin 1.21 per cent, Tata Motors 1.15 per cent, HDFC 1.12 per cent and M&M 0.97 per cent.

As many as 13 out of the 30-share Sensex pack fell, 16 advanced. Power Grid ended flat.

Among the losers were Adani Ports (1.43 per cent), Wipro (1.33 per cent), HDFC Bank (0.81 per cent), Sun Pharma (0.55 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (0.44 per cent), L&T (0.41per cent), NTPC (0.38 per cent) and Asian Paint (0.34 per cent).

Sector-wise, the BSE realty suffered the most by falling 2 per cent, followed by teck 1.00 per cent, power 0.91 per cent, oil&gas 0.81 per cent, capital goods 0.64 per cent and consumer durables 0.40 per cent.

Small-cap and mid-cap too reversed their early trends and fell by 0.39 per cent and 0.38 per cent, respectively, on profit-booking by investors towards the close.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 854.19 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Globally, Asian markets ended mixed as shares in Japan surged 0.23 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.81 per cent, while Shanghai fell 0.72 per cent. Singapore moved down by 0.15 per cent.

Europe was, however, was up in afternoon trade as key indices in France, Germany and the UK were up between 0.05 per cent and 0.82 per cent.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com