Nifty bounces back, touches 5800 level

MUMBAI: Nifty bounced back and recovered the morning losses to touch 5800 level. At 12.30 pm, BSE benchmark Sensex was up 162.48 points to be at 19345.30. National Stock Exchange index Nifty had moved up 42.55 points to be at 5794.45.

Scrips of technology and banks, which had dragged the markets on Thursday, were performing well and pushed it up.

Heavy selling pressure was seen in SAIL, Tata Motors, L&T, HDFC, Maruti and Tata Steel.

At 9.15 am BSE sensex shed 37 points to be at 19145. Nifty was down 22 points to be at 5729.

In the morning session, the Sensex shed 90 points in the opening trade on Friday, extending yesterday's losses on mixed trend overseas and continued selling by funds and retail investors fearing hike in key interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India.

The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange barometer lost 90.53 points to 19,092.29 level, with financial, realty, auto and metal sector stocks leading the fall. It had plunged 351.28 points in the previous session.

The broad-based index Nifty also declined by 30.20 points to 5,721.70 points today.

Brokers said continued offloading of positions by funds, particularly, in banking and realty stocks amid fears of a interest rate hike this month by the RBI to curb inflation, dampened the trading sentiment here.

Among banking stocks, the country's largest lender State Bank of India fell by 0.45 per cent to Rs 2,549 a share, while ICICI Bank shed 0.90 per cent at Rs 1,018.50 a share.

In other markets in Asia, Japan's Nikkei shed 0.40 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up by 0.28 per cent cent in the morning trade today.

In the US, Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.20 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.

Read more: Nifty bounces back, touches 5800 level - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Nifty-bounces-back-touches-5800-level-/articleshow/7282023.cms#ixzz1B05d1nWP

Food inflation dips to 16.91%

NEW DELHI: Snapping the five week rising trend, food inflation softened to 16.91 per cent for the week ended January 1, 2011, although vegetables, onions and protein-based items continued to remained costly.

Food inflation fell by 1.41 percentage points from 18.32 per cent recorded in the previous reporting week.

Even as the index of food inflation showed a meagre decline, vegetable prices soared by 70.73 per cent on an annual basis in the wholesale market, official data showed.

Also onions continued to pinch the pocket of the common man as the prices went up by 70.70 per cent on a year on year basis.

Among the individual items in the food inflation index, egg, meat and fish became costly by 16.70 per cent, milk by 13.20 per cent and fruits by 17.71 per cent annually.

However, prices of pulses declined by 14.84 per cent, wheat by 4.87 per cent, potatoes by 1.67 per cent and cereals by 0.12 per cent on an annual basis.

Meanwhile, in the non-food category, the prices of fibres and minerals have climbed up by 36.71 per cent and 16.70 per cent, respectively.

Food inflation has remained high for the entire month of December. The rising food prices will get reflected in the monthly inflation data for December, scheduled to be announced tomorrow.

The headline inflation in November had come down to 7.48 per cent from 8.58 per cent a month ago.

Read more: Food inflation dips to 16.91% - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Food-inflation-dips-to-1691/articleshow/7275116.cms#ixzz1AucHCe5f

Sensex slips by over over 300 points

MUMBAI: The markets on Thursday witnessed selling pressure across the board. Below expectation result of Infosys dampened the sentiments. Banks, technology and pharmaceutical stocks further dragged the markets in the negative zone.

At 3.30 pm, Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex was down 338.75 points at 19195.35 and National Stock Exchange index Nifty was down 105.65 points at 5757.60.

The markets continued to be in the negative zone. At 2.10 pm, Sensex was down 310 points to be at 19223.31. Nifty also slipped 107.50 points to be at 5755.75.

All sectoral indices were in red. SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, PNB and Axis Bank plunged 3-3.5%.

At 11.55 pm, the Sensex was in the negative zone. It was down 36.45 points down at 19497.65. Nifty was also in the red. It was down 12.50 points at 5850.75.

In the opening session, Sensex slipped by nearly 117 points, as IT stocks suffered setback after the industry bellwether Infosys Technologies posted third quarter earnings lower than the market expectations.

The 30-share barometer, which had gained 337.76 points in the previous session, declined by 116.95 points at 19,417.15 points.

Similarly, Nifty declined by 32.15 points to 5,831.10 level.

Brokers said market turned bearish after Infosys Technologies declared lower-than-expected third quarter earnings, triggering massive selling of IT companies shares.

However, they said, firming trend in global markets restricted losses on the domestic bourses here.

Infosys Technologies on Thursday reported 14.17 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,780 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2010.

The company share was trading at Rs 3257.65, which was down by over three per cent since its closing price Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in other markets in Asia, Japan's Nikkei was 0.56 per cent up while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 0.71 per cent in the morning trade today.

In the US, Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.72 per cent higher in Wednesday's trade.

Read more: Sensex slips by over over 300 points - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Sensex-slips-by-over-over-300-points/articleshow/7274285.cms#ixzz1Aubwzu5y

Stock market fall: Investors lose Rs 5 trillion in five days

Mumbai, Jan 10 (PTI) Investors'' stock market wealth has plunged by nearly Rs 5,00,000 crore in five straight days of trading, as the market continued its downslide today with a 468-point plunge in the benchmark Sensex.

Barring the first day of trading on January 3, markets have recorded a loss on all days so far in the New Year with the Sensex losing 1,337 points in five consecutive trading sessions.

In the process, the total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market value of all listed companies, has plummetted by nearly Rs 5,00,000 crore and stood at Rs 6,887,194.38 crore at the end of today''s trade.

Out of this, more than Rs 1,00,000 crore has been eroded from the market value of the country''s ten biggest companies alone, which include blue chips like Reliance Industries, ONGC, TCS, Infosys, Coal India and SBI.

The 30 Sensex companies together lost about Rs 2,00,000 crore in the last five days of trading.

The Sensex today closed at its six-week low on continued selling by edgy investors, ahead of third quarter corporate results and weak global cues. Experts said that investors are bogged down by fears of interest rate hike coupled with negative show of global peers.

Reliance Industries, which dropped by over 3 per cent today, has lost approximately Rs 20,000 crore of market value in the past five trading sessions, while losses for the period is much higher at about Rs 25,000 crore for PSU giant ONGC.

SBI has also lost about Rs 20,000 crore in this period, while giants like TCS, Coal India, NTPC, ITC and Bharti Airtel have lost about Rs 10,000 crore each.

The loss is relatively less for IT major Infosys at about Rs 5,000 crore, as investors are expecting good quarterly results, while ICICI Bank has lost over Rs 15,000 crore amid heavy selling pressure in banking stocks.

The market, which had grown by about 17 per cent in 2010, has fallen by about 6 per cent in the New Year, as it could not continue the uptrend beyond the first trading session.

The overall investor wealth had grown by neary Rs 12,00,000 crore in the entire 2010, when the Sensex grew by over 3,000 points.