Sensex melts as Tata Steel leads fall

Mumbai: The stock markets plunged by over 96 points in early trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange due to selling by mutual funds in heavy-weight stocks on Wednesday. The shares of Tata Steel went down as brokers showed concern that the company might have overpaid for the Corus deal.

All the key indices were trading in red led by metal, FMCG, pharma and oil & gas.

At 10:30 hours IST, the Sensex was down 145.67 points at 14,137.05, and the Nifty down 50.25 points or 1.21 per cent at 4,097.45.

Marketmen said the acquisition of Corus by the Tata Steel at 608 pence a share might stretch the Indian steel major's balance sheet.

They said the rating agency Standard and Poor's upgrading India's sovereign rating to 'investment grade' for the first time in 14 years failed to lift the sentiment.

Trading activity was highly volatile which mainly centred around trading on steel stocks such as Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Essar Steel and Maharashtra Seamless.

Brokers said business volumes at Tata Steel counter picked up sharply as some investors were buying this stock at every fall, considering it a better long-term investment.

Top gainers on the Sensex are NTPC at Rs 144.20 up 4.87 per cent, Reliance Comm at Rs 452.50 up 3.51 per cent and Reliance Energy at Rs 514.55 up 2.48 per cent.

Top losers on the Sensex are Tata Steel at Rs 479.60 down 5.82 per cent, ITC at Rs 170.30 down 4.57 per cent and Wipro at Rs 626.80 down 3.63 per cent.

Top gainers on the Nifty are Reliance Comm at Rs 453 up 3.77 per cent, SAIL at Rs 115.75 up 3.44 per cent and Reliance Energy Rs 515.20 2.54 per cent.

Top losers on the Nifty are Tata Steel at Rs 479.70 down 5.96 per cent, Suzlon Energy at Rs 1,212.50 down 5.66 per cent and VSNL at Rs 469.60 down 4.28 per cent.

Market cues:

• RBI to announce monetary policy today
• FIIs net buy $ 31.6 million in equity on January 25
• NSE F&O Open Interest up by Rs 3,840 crore (Rs 38.40 billion) at Rs 48,662 crore (Rs 486.62 billion)

F&O cues:

• Futures Open Interest up by Rs 2,453 crore (Rs 24.53 bilion), Options Open Interest up Rs 1,387 crore (Rs 13.87 billion)
• Nifty Futures add 23 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty Feb Futures at 15 point discount
• Nifty Open Interest Put-Call ratio down at 1.77 from 1.85
• Nifty Puts add 12.7 lakh, Calls add 10 lakh shares in Open Interest
• Nifty 4100 Put, 4100 Call add 5 lakh shares each in Open Interest

with inputs from PTI