Sensex tumbles over 300 pts at close on thin volumes; metals, banks slide

Equity markets came under severe hammering Monday plagued by heavy profit taking in frontline shares, with investors also reducing their exposure to metals, banking and capital goods scrips ahead of the F&O expiry later this week, said dealers. Markets failed to take positive cues from other major indices in the Asian region, with Nikkei and Hang Seng ending with sharp gains. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended at 27,643.88, down 313.62 points or 1.1 percent. Intra-day, the index tumbled 343 points to touch the day’s low of 27,614 before trimming some losses towards the close. The broader S&P CNX Nifty closed at 8,370.25, down 88.70 points or 1.05 percent from previous close. [caption id=“attachment_2230854” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Market breadth ended negative with 1,525 stocks declining against 1,142 stocks advancing on BSE. “Fall in the market was basically on the back of thin volumes. We expect the market to be range-bound with a negative bias in the next few sessions. Most of the positions in the F&O segment have already been unwounded, and the market will more or less may stay listless,” said Rikesh Parikh, vice-president (equities), Motilal Oswal Securities. With an eye on global markets development, investors will stay cautious on the domestic market front and instead wait for the RBI’s credit policy next week before taking any position, said Parikh, adding that the market is expecting a 25 basis point cut. Among the laggards in the Sensex pack, Vedanta Ltd was the biggest loser, dropping 3.6 percent at Rs 200. Shares of FMCG major ITC fell 3.3 percent to Rs 317.65, Tata Steel 2.6% to Rs 332.75 and Gail 2.5 percent to Rs 386.25. Other losers such as HDFC fell 2.4 percent to Rs 1,256.90, Cipla slipped 2.1 percent to Rs 660 and Tata Motors was down 1.8 percent at Rs 505.20. State Bank of India, Coal India, Dr Reddy’s, Hindalco, Axis Bank and L&T ended around 1-1.7% lower. Despite the broad market weakness, select frontline stocks bucked the trend to notch up smart gains. Shares of ONGC roe 2.1 percent to Rs 329.30, Bharti Airtel gianed 1.2 percent to Rs 400 and Wipro was up 0.4 percent at Rs 562.95.