Sensex falls 112 points ahead of F&O expiry

Bears once again dominated bulls in the equity market on Wednesday as the key benchmark indices, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty declined 0.41 per cent and 0.37 per cent to 27531.41 and 8339.35, respectively.

Overall market breadth remained weak on the BSE as 1,159 stocks ended with gains while 1,494 closed with losses. Advances to decline ratio for Nifty remained at 24:26.

Barring BSE Bankex (up 0.08 per cent) and BSE Power index (up 0.02), rest all other indices on the Bombay Stock Exchange closed in red. BSE Oil & Gas index tumbled the most 1.03 per cent to 9,411.26, it was followed by BSE Realty index (down 0.86 per cent to 1,537.22), BSE FMCG index (down 0.54 per cent to 7,686.97) and BSE Healthcare index (down 0.40 per cent to Rs 16,911.21)
Alex Mathews, head of research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, says, "Poor quarterly numbers, strengthening of dollar, concerns over MAT and falling of Sensex below 200-Day Moving Average weakened market sentiments on Tuesday."

"Investors are also squaring off their positions ahead of the F&O expiry on Thursday which has further affected market mood," he added.

"Falling of Nifty and Sensex weakened market sentiments further," he added.

Gaurav Jain, director, Hem Securities, says, "Investors prefer to stay sidelines ahead of the derivative contracts expiry on May 28; thereby putting pressure on Indian bourses."

Among the Sensex stocks, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Coal India, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto were among the top performing stocks with gains of 2.88 per cent, 1.41 per cent, 1.24 per cent, 1.07 per cent and 0.96 per cent, respectively.
However, Vedanta, ONGC, Tata Motors, NTPC and Dr Reddy's Laboratories declined by 2.33 per cent, 2.05 per cent, 1.60 per cent, 1.34 per cent and 1.07 per cent, respectively, and stood at the bottom of the performance chart of the index.

Companies such as Aban Offshore, Adlas Entertainment, Balmer Lawrie & Co, Bhushan Steel, GAIL, HCL, Indoco Remedies and Reliance Infrastructure may announce their earnings on Wednesday.

Among Asian peers, Nikkei and Hang Seng gained 0.12 per cent and 0.92 per cent to 20,437.48 and 28,249.86, respectively.