Business | Markets
Indian shares end six-day gains with 0.5% decline
Indian shares fell 0.51 per cent yesterday, snapping a six-day winning run, with banks leading the market lower as investors became nervous ahead of a central bank policy review next week.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:31 April 24, 2008
Mumbai: Indian shares fell 0.51 per cent yesterday, snapping a six-day winning run, with banks leading the market lower as investors became nervous ahead of a central bank policy review next week.
No.2 lender ICICI Bank fell 2.1 per cent to Rs864.15, HDFC Bank lost three per cent to Rs1,442.85, and the sector index slid 1.9 per cent on concerns of further tightening of the credit policy.
Investors are worried that the central bank, seeking to rein in inflation from three-year highs above seven per cent, will tighten policy further at its review on April 29 after last week's move to increase banks' reserve requirements.
"There was a good bit of profit-booking among bank stocks," said Aalap Shah derivatives analyst at Dolat Capital. "One would not like to hold the risk in the portfolio ahead of the policy. Traders are closing futures positions of bank stocks."
The benchmark BSE 30-share index fell 85.83 points to 16,698.04 with 13 components in the red. The index has fallen 17.7 per cent in 2008.
In the broader market 1,419 gainers outnumbered 1,302 gainers on volume of 461 million shares.
The 50-share NSE index closed down 0.52 per cent at 5,022.80, also snapping a six-day run of gains.
Reliance Industries fell 1.2 per cent to Rs2,577.20, a second straight fall since India's largest listed firm released better-than-expected profit figures.
Second-ranked software exporter Infosys Technologies rose 2.9 per cent to Rs1,645.90.
Indiabulls Real Estate rose 2.38 per cent to Rs513.20 after it acquired 134 acres of land near Mumbai for Rs6.76 billion.
Reliance Power rose 1.78 per cent to Rs384.05 after the Mint newspaper reported it was exploring getting into the business of selling coal to other big consumers in India. A company official declined comment on the report.
Elsewhere in the region, Colombo's All-Share index gained 0.31 per cent to 2,681.27, its highest close in nearly one year.
Rupee falls
India's rupee declined to the lowest level this month, reversing gains, after crude oil's advance to a record spurred demand for dollars from refiners.
The rupee was the worst performer after the Indonesian rupiah among the 10 most-traded Asian currencies outside Japan as oil climbed close to $120 a barrel in New York yesterday. Higher prices of the commodity also increase the cost of imports for Asia's third-biggest economy, which depends on shipments from overseas to cover three-fourths of its annual energy needs.
"The dollar is gradually finding support as refiners are under pressure to cover more for crude oil," said Sudarshan Bhatt, chief currency trader at Corporation Bank in Mumbai.
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