The stock market ended lower for the second day in a row. The market, which started with gains in the morning, went through a sharp fluctuation. The volatility in the market was due to high levels of profit booking.
The Sensex was down 59 points and the Nifty was down 8 points on August 13. The Sensex closed at 38,310 points. The Sensex, which had traded higher at 38,516 points during trading, fell by more than 300 points. The Nifty closed at 11,300 points. Similarly, Nifty rose to 11,259 points in the morning trade and then fell to 11,270 points before closing at 11,300.
While 26 stocks in the Nifty gained 24 other stock registered losses. The top five gainers were Tata Motors, L&T, Hindalco, Titan and Infratel. Tata Motors gained 4.59 per cent. L&T and Hindalco gained over 4%.
Automobile and metal stocks were the main gainers on the day. Similarly, the Nifty auto index rose by 1.22 per cent. Shares of SBI rose 4.33 per cent. Bharat Forge was up 15.67 per cent and Ashok Leyland was up 14.46 per cent. At the same time, Eicher Motors lost 2 per cent. Shares of Eicher Motors fell on news of its acquisition of Volvo Bus’ business in India.
Similarly, the Nifty metal index gained 1.10 per cent. Metal stocks gained for the fifth day in a row. Leading gainers were Hindalco, Hindustan Zinc and Hindustan Copper.
At the same time, booking of profits was witnessed in pharma stocks. Pharma stocks fell on higher profit-taking. Aurobindo Pharma lost 5.6 percent. Shares of Sun Pharma and Lupine also lost ground on the day.
The top five losers in the Nifty were Sun Pharma, Cipla, Eicher Motors, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Life and ITC. Shares of Sun Pharma, Cipla, Eicher Motors and Bharti Airtel fell more than two per cent.
