Sensex witnesses turbulence in festive week; drops 135.67 points

Mumbai: The stock market witnessed turbulence in the festive week as the benchmark BSE Sensex lost 135.67 points to retreat from the psychological 28,000-mark, while broader Nifty fell by 55.05 points.

The auspicious week of 'Diwali' festival was suffused by monthly expiry as well as last trading day of Samvat 2072 on 'Dhanteras' was frustrated by key market-bearing events.

Though the stocks started the week on a bullish note supported by firm global sentiment, the shocking removal of Cyrus Mistry as the chairman of Tata Sons hit Tata group shares dampening the sentiment. Also, disappointing earnings by key banking financials pushed the stocks into the negative zone.

A value buying by investors, however, helped stocks recover from the 'ouster' shocks. Also the expiry day saw hectic short-covering, while rebound in Q2 results also lifted the market to some extent capping the larger losses during the week.

The 30-share Sensex resumed higher at 28,156.59 and hovered between 28,256.65 and 27,665.60 before ending the week at 27,941.51, showing a loss of 135.67 points or 0.48 percent.

The NSE Nifty also declined 55.05 points or 0.63 percent to close the week at 8,638.00.

Selling was led by IT, teck, capital goods, power, bankex, auto, metal, and consumer durables counters. The second line shares traded mixed with smallcap companies shares gaining slightly while midcap incurring heavy selling pressure.

Buying was seen in PSUs, oil and gas, healthcare, IPOs, FMCG and realty sectors.

Meanwhile, foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 4,296.11 crore during the week, as per the Sebi's record including the provisional figure of October 28.

In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap index lost 194.11 points or 1.43 percent to settle at 13,408.27. The decline in this index was higher than Sensex's decline in percentage terms. The BSE small-cap index rose 21.82 points or 0.16 percent to settle at 13,454.03, outperforming the Sensex.

Among the sectoral indices, IT dropped 3.45 percent. It was followed by teck 2.89 percent, capital goods 1.50 percent, power 0.93 percent and bankex 0.89 percent, auto fell 0.34 percent, metal by 0.28 percent and consumer durables 0.08 percent.

However oil and gas rose by 0.49 percent, healthcare 0.20 percent, FMCG 0.08 percent and realty saw a rise of 0.06 percent.

In the 30-share Sensex pack, 20 stocks fell, while remaining 10 gained during the week.

Major losers include Axis Bank which was down 7.60 percent. The bank's net profit declined 83.34 percent to Rs 319.08 crore on 14.14 percent growth in total income to Rs 13698.77 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015.

It was followed by Wipro which was down 7.51 percent. The company's consolidated net income fell 8 percent to Rs 2,070 crore on 10 percent increase in gross revenue to Rs 13,770 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015.

Besides, there are Asian Paints (7.24 pct), Tata Steel (7.24 pct), Infosys (3.92 pct), L&T (2.16 pct), Gail (1.67 pc), Tata Motors (1.60 pc) and HUL (1.52 pct).

However, Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) was up 8.08 percent. The company's consolidated net profit fell 60.12 percent to Rs 308.90 crore on 10.57 percent decline in total income to Rs 3,660.10 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone jumped 7.47 percent. The company's consolidated net profit rose 60.97 percent to Rs 1,090.81 crore on 23.56 percent increase in total income to Rs 2,416.77 crore in Q2 September 2016 over Q2 September 2015.

It was followed by Maruti 3.99 percent, HDFC 3.86 percent, Coal India 3.54 percent, Bharti Artl 2.99 percent and ONGC 2.82 percent.

The total turnover during the week on the BSE fell to Rs 16,579.80 crore from last weekend's level of Rs 18,170.07 crore while NSE rose to Rs 1,10,303.38 crore from Rs 1,06,661.62 crore.