Markets drop as heavyweights drag indices lower

Updated: Wednesday, January 9, 2013, 15:41 [IST]

Markets ended the day sharply lower as selling pressure accelerated in the final 30 minutes of trade dragging indices lower, after being rangebound for most of the session. The Nifty ended the day lower by 30 points, while the Sensex shed 75 points.

Among today's star performer was Tata Motors which surged more than 4 per cent, following an upgrade of the stock by foreign brokerages. Today's gains was on the back of 70 per cent gains in 2012.

The auto index rallied today despite reports that India's car sales are expected to post their weakest growth in nine years. Other auto stocks that rose along with Tata Motors were Maruti, Mahindra and Mahindra and Ashok Leyland.

Metals stocks, however, declined with the metal index ending in the red. Metal shares that declined included names like Tata Steel, Sesa Goa, Sterlite Industries, Jindal Steel, Hindustan Zinc and Bhushan Steel.

The BSE oil and gas index ended in the green with HPCL, Oil India, Gail and Reliance among the winners.

Prominent Nifty losers which dragged the indices lower today included HDFC, ITC, HeroMotorCorp, Jindal Steel and Bajaj Auto.

Technology stocks also came in for selling pressure with TCS and Wipro both dropping. Infosys shares also ended the day in the red ahead of its results to be declared on Friday.

Among non index stocks shares of Arshiya International crashed 20 per cent, following reports of sacking of stock and bogus accounting.

Shares of Cholamandalam Investment climbed following reports of the company's fund raising plans. IndusInd which was the first to report its Q3 FY 2013 results today ended the day little changed, after its results were in line with expectations.

Meanwhile, most of the markets in Asia ended the day with gains including the Japanese Nikkei, the Hong Kong Hang Sang and the Korean Kospi.

Indian markers are expected to track overseas markets and would await the results season to determine cues.

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