Market continues to languish

Markets continue to remain under pressure in the afternoon trades as selling pressure prolongs. Selling is witnessed almost all over the bourses, with the metals’, banking and auto stocks among the major losers.

Cues from the Asian markets are also not that encouraging, Nikkei index in Japan was down by 2.3% and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down by 1.6%.

Among the 30-components of the Sensex 28 stocks are in the red and only 2 stocks i.e. TCS and Reliance Infrastructure were among the major gainers. Reliance Industries, HDFC, ICICI Bank, SBI and Bharti were among the major laggards.

At 2:39 pm (IST), Sensex was down 209 points at 9,120 and the Nifty was down 56 at 2,789.

Shares of Rolta India have advanced by 1.2% to Rs88.7. The company announced its results and posted a net profit after tax, minority interest and exceptional items of Rs605.60mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 as compared to Rs602.20mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2007.

Total Income increased from Rs2519.40mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 to Rs3714.50mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2008.The scrip has touched an intra-day high of Rs90.8 and a low of Rs84 and has recorded volumes of over 29,00,000 shares on NSE.

Tata Steel (Thailand) Pcl which is controlled by Tata Steel Ltd, reported a loss of 2.27 billion baht in the three months to Dec. 31 compared with a profit of 617 million baht a year earlier. The company posted its biggest quarterly loss since 2003. The stock declined the most in over a month in Bangkok and was down by 7.6% to 1.09 baht.

Shares of Tata Steel in India were also down by 6% to Rs196. It hit an intra-day high of Rs204 and a low of Rs195 and has recorded volumes of over 31,00,000 shares on NSE.

Shares of MindTree have plunged by over 7% to Rs221 after the company announced its results. Group profit in the three months ended Dec. 31 dropped 56% to Rs87.2mn. The scrip has touched an intra-day high of Rs222 and a low of Rs202 and has recorded volumes of over 42,000 shares on NSE.

Shares of TCS have rebounded sharply from its low and have gained by 1.2% to Rs505 after the company announced that it has signed a multiyear, multimillion pact with Ducati. The scrip has touched an intra-day high of Rs507 and a low of Rs490 and has recorded volumes of over 3,00,000 shares on NSE.