Markets hit day's low as meeting on oil price hike deferred

Market falls after the government decided to defer fuel price hike. Oil companies are the worst hit

• BSE Sensex crashed as government decided to defer the meeting on fuel price hike. The group of minster meeting was supposed to increase fuel prices. BSE Sensex fell by almost 200 points on this new from a high of 18,639 to 18429. it currently trade at 18,489 down by 40 points. NSE Nifty on the other hand has fallen from 5585 to 5525 a drop of 60 points, it currently trades at 5540.

• Oil refining and marketing comapnies were the worst affected. HPCL crashed from Rs 396 to Rs 380, while BPCL was down from Rs 660 to Rs 638.

• HDFC meanwhile announced their results posting a net profit of Rs 1,142 crore against Rs 926 crore. Income of the financial institution was at Rs 3785 crore as compared to Rs 2899 crore

• SKS Microfinance, which has been battered over the last nine days, posted a smart recovery on profit booking. The company’s management says that near term pain is expected to continue while the sector can see some consolidation.

• Reliance Communications today redeemed $500 million worth zero-coupon foreign currency convertible bonds issued in May 2006.The stock is up 2.8% at Rs 91.80

• Hindustan Unilever (HUL) continues to be the top gainer with an increase of 4.1% at Rs 296.10. This is despite the fact that CLSA has maintained the stock as a ‘Underperform’ citing the high valuation on which the company is trading.

• Hindalco has come down from the high of the day, and is currently trading at Rs 205.80, up by 1.40%. The company announced its results with a net profit of Rs 708.37 crore as compared to Rs 663.92 crore, while its sales grew from Rs 5474.3 crore to Rs 6951.53 crore.

•Future Venture made its debut on the stock exchange by opening below the issue price. The stock opened at Rs 9.50 and currently trades at the low of the day of Rs 8.35.

• Coal India continues to trade higher, touching a new high of Rs 396.35. The company is expected to post excellent results tomorrow, which should be reflecting the increase in coal prices announced by the company in February.

•Markets breadth narrowed with 1300 gainers and 1375 losers, 150 stocks remained unchanged.