Sensex down 66 pts; Realty, capital goods stocks decline @ 11:05 hrs

Amid alternate bouts of buying and selling in front line stocks, the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty remain in the negative territory into which they had slipped after an initial move up north this morning.

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At 16,744.90, nearly 125 points off the day's high of 16,867.57, the Sensex is now down 65.91 points or 0.39% from its previous closing mark. The Nifty is down 0.48% or 24.10 points at 4972.95.

Select pharma stocks, led by Ranbaxy Laboratories, are moving higher on firm buying support. Information technology and FMCG stocks are also seen trading reasonably firm.

Bank, automobile, power, oil, metal and capital goods stocks have posted sharp losses. Realty and consumer durables stocks rank among the major losers. Besides several large cap stocks, a number of midcap and smallcap stocks are also trading in the red with sharp losses.

Jaiprakash Associates has lost over 3%. Reliance Infrastructure and Hero Honda are trading lower by 2.4% and 2.3% respectively. DLF, BHEL, State Bank of India, Sterlite Industries, Reliance Communications, Grasim Industries, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries have lost 1% - 1.75%. Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro and ONGC are also trading weak.

Consumer durables stocks Titan Industries (down nearly 6%), Videocon Industries (down 2.8%), Rajesh Exports (down 2.2%) and Gitanjali Gems (down 1.25%) are down with sharp losses.

Among realty stocks, Penland, Unitech, Mahindra Lifespace, Orbit Corporation, Omaxe, India Bulls Real Estate and Ansal Infrastructure have lost 2% - 2.5%. Sobha Developers, HDIL and Ackruti City are also trading weak.

Punj Lloyd, the most prominent loser in the capital goods space, is down nearly 15% at Rs 222 on weak results. The company has posted a net profit of Rs 418.80 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 as compared to Rs 880.50 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2008. Total income has increased from Rs 15838.60 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2008 to Rs 18617.20 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2009.

SKF India, Gammon India, BEML, Elecon Engineering, Suzlon Energy, Areva, Reliance Industrial Infrastructure, Praj Industries, Havells India, Everest Kanto Cylinder and Alstom Projects are among the prominent losers in the capital goods index.

Tata Consultancy Services, ITC, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharmaceuticals, HDFC, Wipro and Maruti Suzuki are up with sharp to moderate gains. Infosys Technologies, ACC and NTPC are trading with modest gains.

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