Sensex Falls 200 Points, Nifty Below 8,800

Sensex fell further in the afternoon trades on Thursday after the selling pressure intensified in the banking and FMCG stocks.

 

Nifty briefly slipped below crucial psychological levels of 8,800 led by selling in ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and ITC.

 

Meanwhile, the mid-cap and small-cap stocks were also facing the heat of selling pressure. The BSE mid-cap index was down 0.7 per cent and the small-cap index fell 0.4 per cent.

 

Among the Nifty stocks, 35 stocks were declining while 15 were advancing. Bank of Baroda was the top loser. The stock plunged 4 per cent to Rs 176. ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Tata Power, State Bank of India, ITC, IndusInd Bank, IDFC and NTPC were also among the top losers down around 2-3 per cent each.

 

The shares of most of the frontline cement stocks were weak today after Ambuja Cement reported less-than-expected profit in its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2014.

 

Shares of Ambuja Cement, Ultratech Cement, ACC and Grasim were trading weaker by over 2 per cent each.

 

Banking stocks were the worst hit in trades today. The Bank Nifty plunged 2 per cent. FMCG, power, healthcare and oil & gas stocks were also trading with a negative bias.

 

Meanwhile, metal stocks recovered from the low levels led by gains in Jindal Steel and Power.

 

Steel maker JSPL surged as much as 23 per cent on Thursday after the company won back some mines cancelled by the Supreme Court last year.

 

The Gare Palma IV/2 and three other coal blocks that Jindal Steel and Power won in the ongoing coal auction serve 50 per cent of the company's coal requirement, analysts say. Coal from these blocks will primarily be linked to JSPL's 1000 MW Tamnar-1 power plant in Chhattisgarh.

 

At 2:30 PM, the Sensex was down 178 points at 29,141 and the Nifty slipped 65 points to 8,804.