Satyam pulls down markets once again

09 Jan 2009 | 18:36
Satyam pulls down markets once again

Markets closed lower for the second consecutive day amid high volatility. The culprit was Satyam once again as it witnessed a sharp fall today as well. The stock touched a new 52-week low of 6.30 on the NSE and lost around 41%, to close at Rs 23.75. It was also the last day of trade for Satyam on the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty as it was announced that Satyam would be replaced by Sun Pharma and Reliance Capital respectively on the two indices.

While the Sensex closed 180.41pts or 1.88% lower at 9,406.47, the Nifty lost 47.4pts or 1.62% to close at 2873. The broad market indices lost even more as the BSE Midcap and Small Cap indices were down by 2.41% and 2.92% respectively. Market breadth continued to remain weak as A/D ratio was 0.31:1 on the BSE. NSE cash turnover was lower at Rs.12,988crs. Vs. Rs.15,509crs. on Wednesday.

Most of the sectoral indices ended in the red. The top losers were the BSE Metal, Realty, Capital goods, Oil and Gas and Consumer Durables indices. The top losers from the BSE-30 were Satyam, Rcom, Sterlite, Tata Steel, Rel Infra and DLF. The top gainers were TCS, HUL, NTPC, M&M and Maruti.

Though the markets have fallen further, the Nifty managed to close above the 2850 supports. The sentiments nevertheless remain weak as evidenced by the weak market breadth. We continue with our strategy of going slow on fresh longs till we see signs of sustainable strength.