Sensex ends down 40 pts at near 3-mth lows on profit-booking

The BSE benchmark Sensex today closed 40 points down at 18,877.96, near its three-month lows, on profit-booking led by metal shares, amid weak global cues.

The domestic market ended lower even as global rating agency Moody's applauded Finance Minister P Chidambaram's Budget saying that it pursues realistic fiscal consolidation path and is 'credit positive'.

After resuming on a flattish note at 18,920.90, the S&P BSE Sensex fell over 150 points within first hour of trade on concerns over global growth outlook and weak data from Europe.

Thereafter, Sensex tried to script a turnaround on numerous occasions but profit-selling kept it in on a tight leash. It finally settled at 18,877.96 -- a loss of 40.56 points, or 0.21 per cent compared to Friday's level.

At this level, the index is close to the three-month low of 18,842.08 hit on November 27. On Budget day, Sensex had closed at 18,861.54 after tanking 291 points.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty today lost 21.20 points, or 0.37 per cent, to close at 5,698.50.

"India's budget pursues realistic fiscal consolidation, a credit positive for the sovereign", said Moody's in its credit outlook for the country.

Second-line shares continued to reel under heavy selling pressure. As a result, total 362 stocks closed at their lower circuit bands. NHPC lost over 18 per cent.

Across-the-board selling was seen as 12 out of 13 sectoral indices ended with losses with metal, realty, consumer durable, capital goods and PSUs suffering the most.

Metal shares from 30-share Sensex like Jindal Steel, Hindalco, Tata Steel and Sterlite dropped between 1.95-4.55 per cent. HUL, L&T and Maruti Suzuki lost over 2 percent each.

ITC, TCS, Bharti and Dr Reddy's were major gainers.

Banking stocks led by HDFC Bank, SBI and ICICI Bank closed higher on expectations the RBI will cut interest rates later this month.

... contd.

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