Equity markets tanked sharply with primarily the weakness in overseas markets to be blamed for. The markets commenced lower and continued to remain in red throughout the day. It was the Greece concern that haunted markets globally. Greece is headed for fresh elections after talks to form a coalition government failed, raising fears about the country’s future in the euro. Weakening rupee further added to domestic woes. Market breadth was no doubt negative as on BSE, 1,721 shares fell and 996 shares rose.
The BSE Sensex dropped below 16,000 level during the day to touch a low of 15,975 before it ended the day 1.8% or 298 points lower at 16,030. Similarly the S&P CNX Nifty slipped 1.7% or 85 points to close at 4,858. Both mid cap and small cap stocks fell but it was the mid caps which fell the least. The BSE Mid-cap and BSE Small-cap indices each shed 0.8% and 1.1% respectively.
It was all red on the BSE sectoral space. The BSE Metal index fell sharply by 2.7% thereby emerging as the top loser. It was basically the weakness in markets overseas that hurt this space. Also a pessimist outlook presented by Hindalco dragged the index heavyweight down by 3.3%. This was followed by the BSE Auto index (down 2.6%) wherein Tata Motors was hurt the most which fell over 7%. Among the other key losers were the BSE Consumer Durables, BSE Capital Goods and BSE Bankex indices which fell by 1.9%, 1.7% and 1.7% respectively.
Among the BSE – 30 stocks, only two stocks gained. Sterlite Ind and Bajaj Auto were the only two gainers which grew by 0.9% and 0.5% respectively. On the other hand, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, BHEL, HDFC and Hindalco which each fell by 7.3%, 3.9%, 3.7%, 3.7% and 3.3% respectively.
As per the data released by SEBI, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in equity to the tune of Rs 136 crores. On the other hand, they were net buyers in debt segments to the tune of Rs 90 crores.