Sensex sheds 477 points

Despite a strong response to the Rs 11000-crore IPO of Reliance Power (RPower), the market fell sharply today as heavyweights faced selling pressure. Bharti Airtel, Reliance Energy and ICICI Bank slumped. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in red. Banking, FMCG and power stocks were worst hit in today's fall. 27 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in red. Asian markets, which opened before Indian markets, were mostly in the red. European markets, which opened after Indian markets, too, were in the red.

The slide on the bourses today was attributed to the liquidity drain from the secondary market as the large IPO of RPower opened for subscription today, 15 January 2008. The IPO will close on 18 January 2008.

The IPO of RPower was fully subscribed within minutes of the opening of the book-building offer today. As per latest data, the IPO was subscribed 9.69 times. The IPO received bids for 220.98 crore shares compared to issue size of 22.80 crore shares.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 476.96 points or 2.30% to 20,251.09. Sensex hit a low of 20,203.63 at the fag end of the trade. At the day's low, Sensex declined 524.42 points. Sensex hit a high of 20,872.93 at the onset of the trading session. At the day's high, Sensex rose 144.88 points.

The broader CNX S&P Nifty was down 132.55 points or 2.14% to 6074.25.

The BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.10% to 9,431.89. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.83% to 12,755.29. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was weak. On BSE, 988 shares advanced as compared to 1869 that declined. 31 remained unchanged.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 8095 crore compared to Monday (14 January 2008)'s Rs 7246 crore.

Nifty January 2008 futures were at 6063, at a discount of 11.25 points as compared to spot closing of 6074.25.

The NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 65,569.15 crore, which was higher than Rs 53,245.37 crore on Monday, 14 January 2008.

India's second largest power utility by revenue Reliance Energy (REL) fell 4.42% to Rs 2364.55 after foreign brokerage firm Morgan Stanley downgrading REL to underweight. The brokerage has kept a price target of around Rs 2,008, which is 20% lower than its current levels. The main reason for downgrading the price is the valuation of RPower. Post-issue REL's stake in RPower will go down to 45% from current 50%.

The BSE Power index declined 2.45% to 4,632.27. It underperformed the Sensex. Torrent Power fell 4.44% to Rs 201.25, Suzlon Energy declined 3.95% to Rs 2,046.25, NTPC skid 3.84% to Rs 274 and Power Grid Corporation of India fell 2.97% to Rs 138.95.

India's largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries fell 1.69% to Rs 3126. The company on Monday, 14 January 2008, announced yet another gas discovery in block KG OSN-2001/1 in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin on the east coast of India.

India's largest listed cellular service provider by market share Bharti Airtel slumped 5.51% to Rs 857.30 after rival company Reliance Communications was allocated Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications spectrum in 14 circles in India.

Reliance Communications slipped 3.45% to Rs 777.40, Satyam Computers shed 2.87% to Rs 387.95, Mahindra & Mahindra gave away 2.86% to Rs 734.05, Larsen & Toubro fell 2.51% to Rs 4062.05 and Infosys Technologies declined 1.86% to Rs 1501.80.

Tata Steel rose 1.54% to Rs 851.85, Maruti Suzuki moved up 1.44% to Rs 867.25, and Tata Motors climbed 0.56% to Rs 769.25.

The BSE Bankex fell 2.39% to 12,258.42. It underperformed the Sensex. India's largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank slipped 4.05% to Rs 1351.40.

Axis Bank fell 4.53% to Rs 1207.90, Karnataka Bank declined 2.57% to Rs 261.55, Canara Bank shed 2.41% to Rs 364.90, Andhra Bank gave away 2.06% to Rs 114.35 and State Bank of India skid 1.95% to Rs 2414.35.

The BSE FMCG index fell 2.34% to 2,354.16. It underperformed the Sensex. United Breweries slumped 6.39% to Rs 330.30, Tata Tea slipped 5.79% to Rs 826.15, ITC fell 3.70% to Rs 216.20, Britannia Industries declined 2.46% to Rs 1,571 and Hindustan Unilever shed 1.53% to Rs 216.20.

Reliance Natural Resources clocked the highest turnover of Rs 550.04 crore on BSE. Indiabulls Real Estate (Rs 406.81 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 286.51 crore), Aries Agro (Rs 284.76 crore) and Reliance Energy (Rs 241.64 crore), were the other turnover toppers on BSE in that order.

Reliance Natural Resources recorded highest volume of 2.44 crore shares on BSE. Centurion Bank of Punjab (1.63 crore shares), Aries Agro (1.21 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.11 crore shares) and G V FIlms (1.07 crore shares), were the other volume toppers on BSE in that order.

In Europe, key indices in UK, France and Germany were down 0.65% to 1.09%.

Asian markets opened higher backed by the strong close in US markets overnight, but most of the indices declined as the day proceeded weighed down by export oriented shares as the dollar depreciated against local currencies. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and China were down 0.98% to 2.38%. However, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted index was up 3.13%.

US stocks rallied smartly on Monday, 14 January 2008 following better-than-expected results from IBM. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 171.85 points, or 1.36%, to 12,778.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 index shot up 15.23 points, or 1.09%, to 1,416.25 and the Nasdaq Composite index advanced 38.36 points, or 1.57%, to 2,478.30.