While the NSE Nifty is in a swathe of red, some of the frontline IT stocks were surprisingly trading in the green about 45 minutes before the markets were to close today.
What added further to the nervousness of the markets, apart from local factors, was the fact that some of the main European indices were in the red and the Dow Jones Futures was down by about 100 points.
Out of the 50-stock NSE Nifty, only four stocks were in the green, of which three were software stocks-Infosys, TCS and HCL Tech.
While Sesa Goa had made small gains, Axis Bank was neutral after recovering from its earlier losses. The rest of the Nifty pack was in the red.
Infosys gained Rs 46.45 to trade at Rs 2,387.90. Sesa Goa was up by Rs 3.05 at Rs 160.70 and HCL Tech gained Rs 7.30 to trade at Rs 749.30. TCS was up by a mere 60 paise at Rs 1,500 and Axis Bank was trading unchanged at Rs 1,432.70. It had actually dipped to a low of Rs 1,411 earlier but made a strong pull back.
But the other 45 stocks forming the Nifty were down and this negative trend was visible across sectors-automobile, banking, health care, capital goods etc.
Dr Reddy’s was down by Rs 12.75 at Rs 2,094.90, Maruti shed Rs 21.60 at Rs 1,615.90, SBI lost Rs 40.25 at Rs 2,048.30, ICICI Bank lost Rs 30.95 at Rs 1,151.85, Lupin edged down by 24.25 to Rs 741.20 and M&M skidded by Rs 40.55 to Rs 964.10.
Reliance slipped by Rs 28.70 to Rs 808.10. Other bank stocks like BoB and PNB also lost heavily.
Apart from the GDP numbers for Q 4 of last year that analysts described as "in-line with expectations", what spooked the markets seem to be the sharp decline in the value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar with rupee staying above Rs 56/dollar at Rs 56.69. This has raised doubts as to whether the RBI Governor would risk cutting interest rates because a weak rupee would have an impact on current account deficit.