Closing session sees steep decline

Thu, 19 Mar Closing

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   01:30 pm   

   03:30 pm   

BSE Sensex gained more than 300 points in the morning session, however, ended the day with a loss of 150 points. NSE-Nifty closed the day in red with a loss of 50 points after gaining nearly 100 points in the morning. Banks lead the gains, however, turned into the biggest loser in the second half of the trading session. All the sectoral indices ended in the red barring the Healthcare sector and Consumer Durables sector.

BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap companies fell over 0.6% each. Commodities, however, have managed to maintain their momentum of gains. Gold prices, per 10 grams, have gained over 1% or Rs 250 and gold is currently trading at Rs 25,900 levels while Silver prices, per kilogram, have gained over 1.7% or Rs 600 and are trading at Rs 35, 900 levels. Crude oil gained in the second half of the trading session with 2%. Per barrel, the commodity gained Rs 60 and is trading at Rs 2890 levels. Indian Rupee fell 0.2% or 0.10 and is trading at Rs 62.58 levels.

European stocks erased early gains of early trading sessions. While the German markets are trading marginally in the red with 0.08%, FTSE is trading with slight gains of 0.12%.

Capital goods, like most of the indices, started the trading session with robust gains but fell prey to profit booking. The sector closed today's session with 1% losses. Engineering major, Larsen & Toubro gained as much as 2% after it won a slew of orders. The engineering giant secured orders worth Rs 12.55 bn which included designing of factories, construction of building and power transmission and distribution. Rs 8.25 bn is attributed to the orders that involve design and construction while the remaining is attributed to power distribution and transmission. Internationally, the company also bagged orders for setting up a power substation.

Information technology sector ended in red amidst profit booking today. However, companies like Wipro and TCS were the biggest gainers in today's trading session. Wipro and HCL are the lead runners for securing a project from the SEBI which involves integration of security systems of all the trades that take place. Currently this mechanism which falls under Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence System is being over looked by TCS. The new bidder, when selected will have to work with TCS is strengthening the system. Shares of TCS increased by 1.3% in today's trade.