Andrew L D'Cunha

Mumbai, Sep 19: Weak global cues coupled with selling pressure saw the BSE-Benchmark index losing 188 points on Monday. Sensex ended at 16745.35, down 188.48 points or 1.11 per cent. The 30-share index touched intraday low of 16709.41 and high of 16865.93. Nifty closed at 5032.55, down 51.70 points or 1.02 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 5068.40 and low of 5019.25 in trade today.

Sensex losers included Sterlite Industries (-3.49%), L&T (-3.02%), Sun Pharma (-2.62%), ICICI Bank (-2.42%) and DLF (-2.32%). State Bank of India shed 1.7% and ICICI Bank fell 2.4%. Maruti Suzuki (3.09%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.17%), Wipro (0.52%), Hero MotoCorp (0.39%) and Bharti Airtel (0.29%) were amongst the gainers.

The rupee dropped more than 1 percent against the dollar on global worries At 1:45pm, the partially convertible rupee was at 47.80/81 per dollar, more than 1.1% weaker than Friday’s close of 47.26/27, and traders said unit could hit 47.90 during course of the week.

Asian markets ended in the red today after a meeting of European policymakers' showed nervousness in dealing with the sovereign debt crisis. Hang Seng slipped 2.7% to 18,917. Shanghai Composite, Straits Times and Taiwan Weighted dropped 1-2% each. In Europe too, CAC and DAX dropped 2.7% each. FTSE shed 2% to 5,262.

Gold Rise on Weak Global Cues

Gold prices rallied on Monday as a series of political setbacks over the weekend reinforced fears about the deteriorating eurozone debt crisis, prompting investors to seek refuge in the precious yellow metal. On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity zoomed up by Rs 450 each to Rs 28,610 and Rs 28,460 per 10 grams, respectively Gold in global markets, which normally sets the price trend on the domestic front, rose by USD 11.60 to USD 1,823.47 an ounce in London.

Andrew L D Cunha, Managing Director, WinWin Fin Advisory Pvt. Ltd. Mangalore. Email: finadvisoryltd@yahoo.com.