BSE
37.40
-07.54%
-03.05
Vol:8998255 shares traded
NSE
37.25
-07.91%
-03.20
Vol:62949980 shares traded
MUMBAI: Indian markets dropped for the fourth day, shedding 0.8 percent in a choppy session on Thursday as monthly derivatives contracts expired, and as high inflation strengthened expectations of a tight monetary stance by the central bank.
Reliance Industries extended losses a day after an oil ministry source said the energy giant could face a penalty for falling short of targeted gas production at its D6 block off the east coast.
The stock, which weighs the most on key indexes, slipped 1.4 percent, taking losses for the year to date to 8.2 percent.
The 30-share BSE index fell 0.81 percent, or 156.67 points, to 19,292.02 points, with 25 components closing in the red. It had started higher.
"I would not read too much into today's fall. It is the typical situation on an expiry day," said Gajendra Nagpal, CEO of Unicon Financial.
"It is all wait and watch before the (Reserve Bank of India's) policy next week. I don't think RBI will hike rates by more than 25 basis points as they would not want to stifle growth," he said.
The RBI is seen raising rates by a quarter percentage point at the policy on Tuesday and analysts now expect it to raise rates by a total of 75 basis points for the rest of 2011, the latest Reuters poll found on Tuesday.
Foreign funds have poured in $3.3 billion into Indian equities since the start of March, driving the main index 8.2 percent higher, but they were net sellers for the first two sessions of this week and offloaded $319 million of stocks.
Dealers shrugged off the selling, saying an easy U.S. monetary policy will continue to drive money to riskier assets.
"...there is some respite after the Fed meeting, as we now know that the tap (of money) is on," said Shankar Char, vice-president and head of sales trading at ICICI Securities, referring to the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to hold short-term interest rates near zero.
Char expected market to continue to be choppy until the central bank's policy.
The 50-share NSE index declined 0.8 percent to 5,785.45. Losers more than doubled the gainers in the broader market, on a volume of 823 million shares on the NSE, higher than the 90-day average daily volume of 646 million shares.
Top lender State Bank of India and private lender HDFC Bank dropped 1.9 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
ICICI Bank bucked the trend and rose nearly 1 percent after the top private-sector lender posted a 44-percent jump in quarterly net profit on strong demand for loans and a rise in fee income in India's fast growing economy.
Unitech and DB Realty slumped 7.9 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, on investor worries about the ongoing telecoms licencing graft case.
On Wednesday, India's Directorate of Enforcement filed a status report in the Supreme Court stating that properties worth 20 billion rupees of two of the three companies charged in the case "will be attached within two months".
The report did not name the companies, but an official with the agency confirmed to Reuters that the companies were Swan Telecom, which is now called Etisalat DB, and Unitech Wireless, which have been charged in the case along with a unit of Reliance Communications.
Reliance Industries extended losses a day after an oil ministry source said the energy giant could face a penalty for falling short of targeted gas production at its D6 block off the east coast.
The stock, which weighs the most on key indexes, slipped 1.4 percent, taking losses for the year to date to 8.2 percent.
The 30-share BSE index fell 0.81 percent, or 156.67 points, to 19,292.02 points, with 25 components closing in the red. It had started higher.
"I would not read too much into today's fall. It is the typical situation on an expiry day," said Gajendra Nagpal, CEO of Unicon Financial.
"It is all wait and watch before the (Reserve Bank of India's) policy next week. I don't think RBI will hike rates by more than 25 basis points as they would not want to stifle growth," he said.
The RBI is seen raising rates by a quarter percentage point at the policy on Tuesday and analysts now expect it to raise rates by a total of 75 basis points for the rest of 2011, the latest Reuters poll found on Tuesday.
Foreign funds have poured in $3.3 billion into Indian equities since the start of March, driving the main index 8.2 percent higher, but they were net sellers for the first two sessions of this week and offloaded $319 million of stocks.
Dealers shrugged off the selling, saying an easy U.S. monetary policy will continue to drive money to riskier assets.
"...there is some respite after the Fed meeting, as we now know that the tap (of money) is on," said Shankar Char, vice-president and head of sales trading at ICICI Securities, referring to the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to hold short-term interest rates near zero.
Char expected market to continue to be choppy until the central bank's policy.
The 50-share NSE index declined 0.8 percent to 5,785.45. Losers more than doubled the gainers in the broader market, on a volume of 823 million shares on the NSE, higher than the 90-day average daily volume of 646 million shares.
Top lender State Bank of India and private lender HDFC Bank dropped 1.9 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
ICICI Bank bucked the trend and rose nearly 1 percent after the top private-sector lender posted a 44-percent jump in quarterly net profit on strong demand for loans and a rise in fee income in India's fast growing economy.
Unitech and DB Realty slumped 7.9 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, on investor worries about the ongoing telecoms licencing graft case.
On Wednesday, India's Directorate of Enforcement filed a status report in the Supreme Court stating that properties worth 20 billion rupees of two of the three companies charged in the case "will be attached within two months".
The report did not name the companies, but an official with the agency confirmed to Reuters that the companies were Swan Telecom, which is now called Etisalat DB, and Unitech Wireless, which have been charged in the case along with a unit of Reliance Communications.
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