Market Overview
A day ahead of F&O settlement, due to a sell-off in most sectors, with the broader markets showing softness, too. We opened gap-up on flat global cues but thereafter, profit booking in metals, FMCG, realty and oil & gas saw the Sensex and the Nifty breach the important psychological levels of 20000 and 6000, respectively. Sensex shut shop at 19956, down 148 points and Nifty at 5991, down 38 points from the previous close.
The Sensex fell below the psychological 20,000 mark, after moving above and below that level intraday. The 50-unit S&P CNX Nifty also fell below the psychological 6000 mark. Copper major Sterlite Industries tumbled after the Madras High Court on Tuesday, 28 September 2010, ordered closure of Sterlite Industries' copper smelting plant at Tuticorin after noting that the company has failed to comply with environmental issues.
The market breadth was weak in contrast with a strong breadth earlier in the day. The BSE 30-share Sensex was provisionally down 171.48 points or 0.85%, off close to 310 points from the day's high and up close to 10 points from the day's low. Commercial vehicles maker Tata Motors and IT major Infosys hit a record highs today.
Stocks were volatile as traders rolled over positions in the derivatives segment, from the near-month September 2010 series, to October 2010 series, ahead of the expiry of the near-month September 2010 derivatives contracts on Thursday, 30 September 2010. The market pared gains, soon after an initial surge triggered by firm Asian stocks. The market slipped into the red later. The market hit a fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade.
Tech Mahindra Ltd is looking to acquire companies
Indian IT services firm Tech Mahindra Ltd is looking to acquire companies with revenue of $50-$100 million, particularly in the business process outsourcing sector, a top company official said.
Tech Mahindra, which acquired Mahindra Satyam in April last year and is operating it as a separate unit, has said it can only merge the fraud-hit firm into the parent after the restated results of Satyam are announced.
Mahindra Satyam, which has not reported results beyond the September quarter in 2008, is scheduled to report its restated results on Wednesday.
