Sensex trades sluggish; Sesa Goa, Sterlite worst hit

Indian markets remained in the negativein noon trade on Tuesdaytracking sluggish global cues. Metal, capital goods and auto stocks saw the deepest cuts.

Goa government ordered temporary shutdown of all 90 iron ore mines in the state following the Shah Commission report, which was tabled in Parliament last week, exposed a scam to the tune of Rs 350 billion in Goa"s iron ore mines. The suspension has impacted metal stocks severely with Sesa Goa down 5% and Sterlite Industries down 4.12%.

At 12.03 pm, the Sensex was trading down 16.50 points or 0.09% at 17,750.28 with 17 components falling. Meanwhile, the Nifty was trading lower by 8.15 points or 0.15% at 5,355.30 with 26 components falling.

The 30-share benchmark index, BSE Sensex opened with a decline of 54.98 points or 0.31% at 17,711.80, while the broad based NSE Nifty started with a fall of 27.35 points or 0.51%, at 5,336.10.

Sensex Movers

H D F C Bank contributed fall of 9.24 points in the Sensex. It was followed by Sterlite Industries (India) (7.69 points), Larsen & Toubro (7.5 points), Infosys (4.55 points) and Hero Motocorp (4.37 points).

However, Housing Development Finance Corporation contributed rise of 11.98 points in the Sensex. It was followed by I T C (6.77 points), NTPC (3.5 points), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (3.01 points) and Grasim Industries (2.49 points).

Biggest gainers in the 30-share index were G A I L (India) (1.25%), NTPC (1.05%), Bharat Heavy Electricals (1.01%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (0.93%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (0.92%), and Cipla (0.88%).

On the other hand, Sterlite Industries (India) (4.37%), Jindal Steel & Power (2.96%), Hero Motocorp (2.05%), Bharti Airtel (0.94%), Tata Steel (0.87%), and Larsen & Toubro (0.84%) were the biggest losers in the Sensex.

Mid & Small-cap Space

The BSE Mid and small caps outperformed their larger counterparts gaining 0.15% and 0.37% respectively. The major gainers in the BSE Midcap were CORE Education and Technologies (5.92%), Anant Raj Industries (4.81%), Amtek Auto (4%), Amtek India (0.41%) and A B G Shipyard (0.39%).The major gainers in the BSE Smallcap were Action Construction Equipment (13.95%), Styrolution ABS (India) (5.81%), Aarti Industries (4.04%), Trident (2.43%) and Aanjaneya Lifecare (1.47%).

Sectors in Limelight

The Metal index was at 9,761.16, down by 145.71 points or by 1.47%. The major losers were Jindal Steel & Power (2.96%), JSW Steel (1.25%), Hindalco Industries (0.46%), Hindustan Zinc (0.15%) and Coal India (0.11%).The Capital Goods index was at 9,495.54, down by 41.19 points or by 0.43%. The major losers were A I A Engineering (1.51%), BEML (1.41%), Alstom India (1%), Bharat Electronics (0.34%) and Crompton Greaves (0.13%).

On the other hand, the HC index was at 7,746.02, up by 30.91 points or by 0.40%. The major gainers were Cipla (0.88%), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (0.61%), Cadila Healthcare (0.49%), Dr Reddy"S Laboratories (0.42%) and Biocon (0.42%).

Market Breadth

Market breadth was positive with 1,303 advances against 1,131 declines.

Value and Volume Toppers

United Spirits topped the value chart on the BSE with a turnover of Rs. 229.94 million. It was followed by State Bank Of India (Rs. 217.62 million), Power Grid Corporation Of India (Rs. 168.13 million) and Fulford (India) (Rs. 132.94 million).

The volume chart was led by Cals Refineries with trades of over 1.93 million shares. It was followed by Deccan Chronicle Holdings (1.43 million), Power Grid Corporation Of India (1.40 million) and ARSS Infrastructure Projects (1.17 million).