Sensex under pressure; oil & gas, private banks, infra fall

The market remained under selling pressure ahead of expiry in the last month of 2011. It seems that the Nifty may close below the 4700-mark today, weighed down by infrastructure, oil & gas and private banks stocks. The Sensex was down 65 points at 15,662.72 and the Nifty fell 25 points to 4,681.05.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and L&T fell 1.65% and 1.34%, respectively.

Among others, Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ONGC, TCS, HUL, ITC and NTPC were down 0.3-0.8%. In the realty space, DLF dropped over 1.5%.

Shares of Tata Power and Maruti Suzuki were biggest losers, falling 2-2.5%. Reliance Communications and BPCL plunged 3% each.

However, shares of SBI and Tata Motors gained 0.6% each. Sterlite Industries topped the buying list, rising 1%.

The market breadth is still in favour of declines; about 1133 shares advanced while 1426 shares declined on the BSE.

Most active shares on exchanges were SBI, Reliance, Fortis Healthcare, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

At 12:48 hours IST : Nifty in narrow range; RIL, Infosys, L&T down

The Nifty showed smart recovery from day's low amid choppy trade, though it could not able to touch the 4700 mark. Overall, it was moving in a tight range of 4680-4699. It was weighed down by index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys and L&T while SBI, ICICI Bank and BHEL were providing good support. The Sensex was down 31 points at 15,696.66 and the Nifty dropped 14.5 points to 4,691.35.

Shares of Reliance Industries dropped for the third consecutive session today, falling over 1%. L&T, Infosys and TCS were down 0.4-0.85%.

Tata Power remained biggest loser among Sensex 30 stocks, declining 2% on profit booking. Maruti, Bajaj Auto and DLF slipped 0.5-1%.

However, major largecaps like SBI, ITC, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Tata Motors and Wipro gained 0.2-0.7%, which limited the downside.

In the second line shares, Jaypee Infra shot up 13%. Mcleod Russel, Fortis Healthcare, Deccan Chronicle and Kwality Dairy jumped 5-6% while Gujarat Flourochemical, Glodyne Tech, Shree Global, Jain Irrigation and TV18 Broadcast fell 5%.

In the smallcap space, Global Offshore, Sandesh, Indo Rama Synthetic, DQ Entertainment and KGN Industries rallied 5-10%. However, PG Electroplast crashed 17%. Fulford, Unichem Labs, GSS Infotech and Alchemist were down 5-6%.