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Nifty fails to recover post freak trade, Sensex below 19k

The BSE Sensex and the Nifty traded lower Friday, failing to recover from a freak trade that sent the Nifty down by over 900 points in early trade.

The 50-share Nifty plunged to a low of 4,888 after which trading was halted briefly. NSE attributed the sharp drop in cash market to erroneous orders, which resulted in multiple trades at low prices. Cash prices were frozen for some time because the index hit the lower circuit filter.  

"The market circuit filter got triggered due to entry of 59 erroneous orders which resulted in multiple trades for an aggregate value of over Rs 650 crores. These orders have been entered by a trading member Emkay Global Financial Services on behalf of an institutional client," NSE said in a statement.

Shares in Emkay Global Financial Services plunged 10 per cent at Rs 31.10.

Sources told NDTV Profit that market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India was looking into the freak trade and it has sought an explanation from the NSE.

The market was reopened by the exchange with a pre-open phase at 10.00.22 and trading resumed at 10.05.00. The market is functioning normally and the incident is being investigated, NSE added.

Meanwhile, the BSE continued to work normally though the Sensex was also affected by the sharp fall in Nifty prices initially.

Earlier, the markets had opened higher, but soon witnessed profit booking. The BSE Sensex has gained nearly 500 points over the last four sessions tracking the reforms push by the government. So, a consolidation was expected.

"Market is overbought so look for profit booking," Hemant Thukral, national head (derivative desk) at Aditya Birla Money said.
 
At 2.30 p.m., the BSE Sensex traded 158 points or 0.8 per cent lower at 18,900 while the Nifty declined 53 points lower to 5,734.

Banking stocks, which have driven the recent rally, traded over 1 per cent lower. IT stocks also saw sharp cuts, falling over 1.5 per cent on the BSE. Realty stocks saw profit booking after the sharp up move yesterday. Healthcare stocks also traded with over 1 per cent cut.


On the Nifty, only 11 of the 50 stocks traded higher. FMCG major HUL was the top gainer, rising 1.8 per cent. Utility vehicles maker M&M and commercial vehicles major Tata Motors also traded with over 1 per cent gains.

Mortgage lender HDFC was the top loser, down nearly 5 per cent on the back of a block deal. US private equity firm Carlyle Group has sold its 3.7 per cent stake in the firm.

Infra lender IDFC, Reliance Infra, and Jaiprakash Associates were the other stocks trading with over 3 per cent cut on the Nifty.

Global cues:
 

Asian markets were mostly up as investor risk aversion eased after the European Central Bank said it was ready to buy bonds of troubled euro zone countries, while markets awaited a key U.S. jobs report. Tokyo's Nikkei stock average opened up 0.44 per cent. European stocks opened higher.



(With inputs from agencies)