Sensex down 67 points and NIFTY ends 25 points lower in volatile trade

The Indian markets were highly volatile in trade today and closed today's session in the negative zone. The Sensex shut shop down by 67 points and the Nifty fell 25 points. Major Headlines Govt ups excise duty on cigarette; ITC gains PNB Q4 cons net profit surges by 10% Union Bank Q4 cons net profit declines by 15% IRB Infra Q4 cons net profit up by 17% Indian Indices The Indian markets closed today's trade on a negative note oscillating on either sides of the equator. The markets saw some green in the late morning session but failed to maintain it till the close. Persistent selling pressure majorly in realty, metal, banking, power and oil & gas stocks led the decline. Major heavyweight draggers were- RIL, SBI, Infy, HDFC, M&M, ICICI Bank and NTPC, while ITC was the top performer. Market breadth remained weak, as the broader market indices too were trading with a negative bias. Tracking today's stock specific action, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ) which got listed today, opened at Rs115 on the BSE, with a discount of 5% over its issue price of Rs120. The stock closed at Rs111.20, down by 7.33%. Cigarette maker ITC rose on the BSE, after government hiked the excise duty on cigarette to approximate 22% from approximate 15%. Today after market hours, ITC closed at Rs240.05, higher by 5.61%. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) declined for the sixth straight day, closing below its psychological level of Rs700 mark after four months. The stock has been under pressure since the government said it will not allow cost recovery of $1.2 billion from the KG-D6 basin. The stock ended the day 1.91% lower. On the earnings front, Ranbaxy Laboratories net profit in Q1 zoomed four-fold at Rs1247 crore. The stock closed 3.80% higher in trade today. ABB declined nearly 5% and hit the monthly low of Rs721, after the company’s net profit in Q1 dropped 20%. The stock was down by 1.50%. The consolidated net profit of IRB Infrastructure Developers surged 17.11% to Rs120.35 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012. At the end of the day, stock closed up by 1.21%. Coming to the Currency front, Indian rupee extended the losses in afternoon trade and was at 53.80 to the dollar, down 68 paise on global risk aversion. On the global front, European stocks, which opened higher, have suddenly taken a 'U' turn and are trading mostly lower. Overall market breadth was negative. The Sensex closed at 16480, down by 67 points and the Nifty fell 25 points to close at 4975. Market sentiment: The market breadth stood in favour of declines. Of the 2856 stocks traded on the BSE, 936 (32.77%) rose, 1796 (62.89%) fell and 124 (4.34%) stocks remained unchanged Sectoral & stock screening: Among the 13 sectoral indices, two sectors closed in the green zone, while remaining eleven closed in red. Gainers were - BSE FMCG which rose 2.69%, BSE IT gained 0.21%. Losers were - BSE Realty which dropped 2.99%, BSE Metal fell 2.06% and BSE Bankex slipped 1.89%. Among 'A' group stocks, top three gainers were- Emami which rose 8.28%, ITC up 5.61% and Ranbaxy Laboratories surged 3.80%. Top three losers were- Manapuram Finance which fell 14.46%, GMR Infra declined 7%), and HDIL dropped 6.61%. Global Signals Asian markets slid on Wednesday (May 9, 2012) on fresh worries about the fragility of the Europe's monetary union following failed coalition talks in Greece, while a decline in commodity prices pushed down metal, mining, and oil stocks across the region. European stock markets were broadly flat today, as investors welcomed the day's corporate earnings but political turmoil in Greece still weighed on the market sentiment. The US Stock index futures pointed to a lower opening at the Wall Street on Wednesday. where the Dow Jones futures fell by 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.5%.