Sudden weakness in the European markets changed the direction of the Indian markets in afternoon trade.

The BSE Sensex and the NSE's S&P CNX Nifty, which were in the postiive terriory till 1.30 p.m., changed track and closed in the red. The Sensex closed about 60 points down at 16,420 and the Nifty about 10 points at 4,965.

"Volatility came to the fore in the late afternoon session as the Nifty slipped suddenly downwards. Exporting companies stocks were active today as the RBI laid down the rule that said all foreign-exchange earners have to convert half of the total foreign exchange earnings kept in banks into rupees," said Mr Shanu Goel, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive. On the BSE, 1,524 shares declined and 1,239 shares gained. A total of 145 shares were unchanged.

Except Oil & Gas and Consumer Durables indices, all the other sectoral indices on the BSE closed in the red; the BSE Metal and Auto were the worst performers.

The NSE volatility index, the fear gauge, closed marginally down at 22.72.

"The main concern for Indian markets is weakening rupee. If rupee weakens further and crosses 53.92 then by far it will kiss the all time low of 54.32. In this case, the Nifty is surely going to touch 4,767, that is, 78.6 per cent retracement of the rally from 4,531 to 5,630. But here the main thing is not whether it will go to 4,767 or not. The noticeable thing to keep in mind is whether Nifty will halt at 4,767 or continue to slide further," said a technical analysis note from Emkay.

Hatsun Agro, Phoenix Mills, Federal Bank, Bajaj Holdings and Page Industries saw heavy volumes on the BSE. On the NSE, top volume shockers include Jagran Prakashan, Jubilant Industries, Dhunseri Investmetns, Bharat Rasayan, Lumax Industries.

The Nifty gainers are Cairn India, IDFC, BPCL, Axis Bank and DLF while the losers were Maruti Suzuki, Jindal Steel, Ranbaxy, Punjab National Bank and Asian Paints.

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