21 Jan 2009 - Sell-off continues on the back of global weakness Markets witnessed a sell-off and closed lower for the second consecutive day.

 Sell-off continues on the back of global weakness Markets witnessed a sell-off and closed lower for the second consecutive day.

Sell-off continues on the back of global weakness Markets witnessed a sell-off and closed lower for the second consecutive day. Heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Wipro, HDFC, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, BHEL, SBI and SAIL were the main culprits for today's massive sell-off. Markets seemed to be disappointed with the earnings from HDFC, Wipro and likely weak numbers from Reliance Industries. Weak global cues added fuel to the fire.

While the Sensex closed 321.38pts or 3.53% lower at 8,779.17, the Nifty lost 90.45pts or 3.23% to close at 2706.15. The broad market indices out performed as the BSE Midcap and Small Cap indices were down by only 1.97% and 1.93% respectively. Market breadth was negative as A/D ratio was 0.43:1 on the BSE. NSE cash turnover was lower at Rs.7,942crs. Vs. Rs.7,081crs. on Tuesday.

Barring the BSE FMCG index, all the sectoral indices ended lower. The top losers were the BSE Metals, Bankex, Power, Oil and Gas and Realty indices. The top gainers from the BSE-30 were HUL and ITC. The top losers were Sterlite, HDFC, Tata Power, ICICI Bank and Grasim.

With the Nifty closing just above the 2700 supports, we could see some short term bounce tomorrow. The trend nevertheless remains down and we therefore expect any upsides to be of a short term nature. Traders can use these upsides to build shorts.