Sensex snaps three-day winning streak, sheds 240 points

ICICI Bank and DLF led the fall at the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday as the 30-share Sensex was down 241 points, snapping a three-day winning streak, even as second-line stocks scored huge gains in highly volatile trade.

Coming off its day's high of 14,405.51, the BSE barometer finally settled at 14,060.66, netting a fall of 241.37 points or 1.69 per cent from its previous close.

Foreign institutional investors, who are the principal market drivers, bought mid-cap and small-cap shares heavily.

Investor sentiment in these segments was bolstered by reports that Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) plans to invest Rs 50,000 crore in the stock market in this fiscal.

DLF was down 7.77 per cent while India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank shed 6.56 per cent followed by Bharti Airtel (6.06 per cent) and BHEL (5.75 per cent).

The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also tumbled 48.15 points or 1.11 per cent to close at 4,270.30.

Bonanza Portfolio assistant vice-president Avinash Gupta said: "This was a day of huge volumes amid high volatility. The volumes in the cash market were more than Rs 40,000 crore at the NSE, which is a record."

Brokers said sustained bouts of buying and selling in frontline counters, particularly the market heavyweight Reliance Industries and bank stocks, triggered a high level of volatility throughout the session. 

The midcap and smallcap indices outperformed the Sensex, shooting up 6.03 per cent and 8.86 per cent, respectively.

Investors continued to be upbeat amid reports that an ambitious reform agenda is being drawn up for the first 100 days of the new government.

Automobiles major Tata Motors attracted keen demand and soared 19.12 per cent following news that the company raised Rs 1,250 crore by selling non-convertible debentures to LIC.

The appreciating rupee, however, triggered fresh selling in the IT sector for the second consecutive day.

The market did not have any impact of a steady to mixed trend in Asian markets.

HDFC was down 5.73 per cent, Sun Pharma 5.07 per cent, RIL 3.78 per cent, HDFC Bank 2.36 per cent, Rel Comm 2.33 per cent and Infosys Technologies 1.90 per cent.

Tata Steel, however, gained 12.81 per cent, Mah & Mah 8.18 per cent, Hindalco 7.09 per cent, Jaiprakash Associates 5.29 per cent and Maruti Suzuki 4.45 per cent.

The business volume dropped to Rs 8,415.09 crore from Rs 11,781.35 crore on Tuesday. DLF remained the most active scrip with the highest turnover of Rs 321.05 crore. Tata Steel clocked a transaction volume of Rs 316.15 crore, RIL Rs
294.67 crore, Unitech Rs 271.60 crore and Reliance Capital Rs 251.84 crore.

Among sectoral indices, the BSE capital goods spurted 9.69 per cent, metals 5.22 per cent and auto 4.70 per cent.