SENSEX closes just above 13500 pts due to FII's

SENSEX shed 253 pts in the last hour of today session to close near crucial support levels. Foreign institutional investors (FII's) who turned sellers post budget pressed sales taking retailers by surprise.

Market opened firm after IT major Infosys Technologies announced better than expected results for quarter ended June. However, factors like weak global markets and expectations of average earnings report pinned down the market. Pessimism was so high that at one point market even discounted positively surprising Index of Industrial Production data.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE) Sensex ended at 13504.22, down 253.24 points. The index touched an intra-day low of 13418.39 and high of 13897.19.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 4003.90, down 77.05 points or 1.89 per cent. The index touched an intra-day low of 3976.80 and high of 4129.95.

Market breadth on BSE showed 1785 declines against 772 advances. The BSE Midcap Index was down 1.92 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index declined 1.79 per cent.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Oil&gas Index fell 3.28 per cent, BSE Power Index declined 2.54 per cent and BSE Capital Goods Index was down 2.28 per cent. The BSE IT Index moved 2.17 per cent higher.