Sensex at over 14 mths low, plunges 431 pts on profit-booking

Mumbai, May 14: The BSE benchmark Sensex on Monday declined the most in more than 14 months by losing 431 points on across-the-board selling mainly in FMCG, capital goods, metal and auto stocks amid a surge in April trade deficit.

The Sensex fell 430.65 points, or 2.14 percent, to 19,691.67, a biggest slump after 27th February 2012. The index had climbed to over three months high in the previous session.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dropped by 126.80 points, or 2.08 percent, to 5,980.45 led by stocks of ITC Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services.

The MCX-SX flagship index SX40 closed 228.64 points, or 1.92 percent, lower at 11,662.34 points.

Brokers said the selling pressure, mostly of profit-booking nature, was so strong that all the index components in 30-BSE and 50-NSE closed with losses.

"Surge in April trade deficit, considerable rise in USDINR rates and finally Nifty trading in resistance zone around 6120 resulted in selling pressure at higher levels," said Milan Bavishi, Head Research, at Inventure Growth & Securities.

The country's exports grew for the fourth consecutive month recording a growth of 1.6 percent in April but surge in gold imports pushed up the trade deficit to USD 17.7 billion.

A weak trend in the Asian region and lower opening in Europe ahead of the US reports of retail sales and a weak dollar further influenced the market sentiment on the domestic front here, traders said.

ITC Ltd was the major loser of the day dropping 5.31 percent to Rs 336.86 followed by TCS by 2.42 percent to Rs 1,451.65, Tata Motors by 3.27 percent to Rs 297.65, Larsen and Toubro by 2.96 per cent to Rs 1,516.85.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel declined by 4.14 percent to Rs 311.65 and Gail India by 2.14 percent to Rs 332.15.

The two most heaviest with their 15 percent weightage, Reliance Industries and Infosys lost 1.27 percent to Rs 903 and by 0.92 percent to Rs 2,340.35, respectively.

All sectoral indices led by FMCG and Capital goods closed in negative territory with losses up to 3.17 percent.