Sensex Ends Flat After 740-Point Swing; Realty Stocks Sink

The BSE Sensex jumped nearly 500 points to edge above the psychological 25,000 peak on Monday, but sharp selloff towards the end of the session took the 30-share index over 250 points lower. The Sensex ended 23.53 points or 0.1 per cent higher at 24,717, while the Nifty closed 8 points down at 7,359.

Market volatility rose sharply, with the NSE VIX index rising 12 per cent after declining for six consecutive sessions.

Profit taking after the recent sharp run up in markets, a large sell order by some big investor, or some buzz about Primer Minister-designate Narendra Modi's cabinet may have spooked markets today, analysts said.

Market analyst Sarvendra Srivastava told NDTV that markets have closed lower (than opening) over the last nine days, which is not a healthy sign in the short term.

"At around 2.15 p.m., some big investors started selling stocks after which smaller investors and traders also booked profits," he added.

Independent analyst Sanjeev Bhasin said there's a lot of froth building up in markets.

"Investors should stay focused and let extra greed dry out," he added.

Realty stocks were the big losers today, down 5.2 per cent, while power, energy, consumer durables and PSU stocks also saw sharp selloff.

DLF, India's biggest realty major, ended 6 per cent lower, while state-run BHEL declined 4.8 per cent. IDFC, Bank of Baroda and Tata Power closed with over 4 per cent losses.

Only 18 stocks ended higher on the Nifty, led by M&M, which rose 6 per cent. Sesa Sterlite closed 4 per cent higher, while Wipro and HCL Tech advanced over 3 per cent.

Midcap and small cap stocks ended over 2 per cent lower on profit-taking. Heavy outperformance since mid-March and investors' inclination for reducing perceived volatility in portfolios is leading to paring of positions in midcap stocks, dealers said.

Ramco Cements, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Jain Irrigation Systems were among the midcap losers today.