10:30 AM Plunging stocks of Bajaj Auto push the Sensex lower on Wednesday.
The Sensex on BSE finished 25.35 points, or 0.2% lower, to settle at 12,858.48. The market-breadth turned negative in the later trading after being positive till the first half of the trading session. For 1,271 shares that declined on BSE, 1,195 advanced and 73 shares were unchanged. Decliners outpaced advancers by 10:9. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,035 crore, higher than Rs 3,806 crore on Tuesday. The turnover on NSE was Rs 7,997.28 crore.

Economic news

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday the government was aiming to achieve 10% annual GDP growth by the year 2011/12.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also stated at a seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organizations that a high-level group in the Planning Commission of the country will be created to consider all issues concerning the service sector to enhance India''s competitiveness in the coming years.

In focus

Bajaj Auto plunged 7% to Rs 2,900, due to a fall in margins despite revenue growth remaining strong.

Advancers

Pharma large-caps advanced. Ranbaxy gained 3% to Rs 424, and Dr Reddy’s Lab rose 2.7% to Rs 735. Some second-tier pharma surged. Glenmark Pharma soared nearly 18% to Rs 389.35, after Germany Merck licensed a diabetes drug to the Indian firm.

Some banks also advanced. ICICI Bank gained 2.4% to Rs 742 and SBI rose 1.1% to Rs 1,045. L&T rose 1.5% to Rs 1,309 ahead of Q2 results scheduled tomorrow. Yes Bank moved higher 3.4% to Rs 106, as the private sector lender announced it will issue 10 million shares to Swiss Reinsurance Company at Rs 120 per share.

Some sugar shares jumped. Balrampur Chini Mills surged 10% to Rs 110.35 and Bajaj Hindustan gained 7% to Rs 340.

Decliners

Bajaj Auto pulled other auto stocks lower. Hero Honda shed 1.4% to Rs 747, TVS Motor lost 1.7% to Rs 121, car large-cap Maruti Udyog declined 1.2% to Rs 948 and Tata Motors lost 1% to Rs 890.55.

Wipro sank 3% to Rs 557, despite strong second-quarter results as the company announced that wage hike will impact margin by 2% in Q3 December 2006. Wipro second-quarter earnings rose 48%.

Tata Steel shed 1.2% to Rs 509.35, after Standard & Poor’s placed it on credit watch with negative implications, following the offer of $7.6 billion of the company for the entire stake of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus.

Index heavy Reliance Industries lost 0.6% to Rs 1,208. Reliance Industries announces second-quarter results tomorrow.

Grasim dipped 1.7% to Rs 2,578. After trading hours, Grasim Industries posted stronger-than-expected second-quarter results. The net profit surged 80% to Rs 337.84 crore (Rs 187.65 crore), beating market forecasts.

Other news

Tata Steel, which has come out with an offer to buy out Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus, could be confronted with tough competition from Russian firms including Severstal, whose bid had complicated the takeover of Arcelor by Mittal Steel earlier this year.

Forecasting revenues of $500 million in the next five years, news broadcaster NDTV today announced major expansion plans involving a variety of new initiatives, including Hindi.