Sensex sheds 151 points

On a day of ups and downs, Indian benchmark indices closed lower by approximately one per cent on Friday.

The Nifty closed 41.95 points or 0.82 per cent down at 5,049.95 while the Sensex closed at 16,785.64, down 151.25 points or 0.89 per cent.

Experts said that the quantum of write-off in the Eurozone was the issue.

“It all started with a €100-150-billion write-off and now there is talk of a €1.3-trillion bailout,'' said the Head of Research of an Indian brokerage.

“It is hard to digest that even after such a big bailout, one thinks that India would be unaffected.”

Bajaj Auto, Siemens, Maruti, Hero Moto Corp and BHEL were the top gainers while L&T, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Hindalco and DLF were the top losers on the NSE.

Infrastructure player L&T became the latest casualty of its own Q2 results with the share shedding 3.84 per cent to emerge as the top loser among the Nifty stocks today.

Metal stocks seem to have come for severe pounding with Hindalco, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel coming under price pressure.

The market did not seem to be impressed with the Q2 numbers of L&T. The share, which touched a high of Rs 1417.90, lost Rs 53.20 to close at Rs 1,332 with a huge volume of 57.83 lakh shares being traded.

Among the major losers were Bharti Airtel, which closed at Rs 378.85 (-2.87 per cent), Tata Motors Rs 178 (-2.79 per cent), Hindalco Rs 121.65 (-2.45 per cent), Tata Steel Rs 433.10 (-1.92 per cent) and Jindal Steel closed at Rs 528.90 (-1.63 per cent).

Bajaj Auto, which closed at Rs 1,643.60, was the top gainer with a gain of 1.86 per cent. Maruti, which has put its Manesar plant labour trouble behind it, ended the day at Rs 1,094.40, a gain of 1.57 per cent.

Siemens, Hero Motocorp, BHEL, Dr Reddy's, SBI, ACC, TCS and HCL Tech completed the gainers’ list with gains ranging from 1.72 per cent (Siemens) to 0.55 per cent (HCL Tech).