The market declined for the fourth straight day, as selling refused to die down. Concerns prior to the budget kept the market edgy. Market men unwinded their long positions, choosing to watch from the sidelines, cautious, ahead of the Union Budget for 2007-08.

The BSE Sensex, which had slipped below the psychological 14,000 level in the opening session, fell like nine pins as selling continued unabated.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex plunged 388.78 points (2.77%), to settle at 13,659.53. It had opened firm, at 14,071.27, but began declining immediately after. The benchmark index kept on touching one low after another, 13,568.08 being the last one. Todays fall is also biggest single day point fall since 12 December 2006. On that day, the barometer index had lost 404.41 points (3%) after data showed a lower-than-expected 6.2% growth in industrial production for October 2006, sparking concerns of an economic slowdown. The 404-point slide came on the back of a 400-point fall a day before (11 December 2007) after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)s surprise hike of 50 basis points in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) after trading hours on 8 December 2006.

The S&P; CNX Nifty lost 101.10 points (2.50%), to 3,938.90.

The benchmark Sensex had sharply fallen close to 167 points on Thursday (22 February), in the last 45 minutes of trade, due to heavy unwinding of derivative contracts on account of their expiry. The February series, which expired on Thursday (22 February), was interestingly the first monthly series, since the devastating May plunge, when the Nifty settled in the red.

The benchmark Sensex declined sharply from 14,402.90 on 19 February 2007 to 13,659.53.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4150.18 crore as compared to Rs 4243 crore on Thursday (22 February).

The market-breadth, which reflects the overall health of the broader market, was very weak. There were 5.4 losers for every gainer on BSE. A host of stocks from the smallcap and midcap space were being heavily sold. Against 2,207 shares declining on BSE, just 411 advanced. Only 36 scrips remained unchanged. The BSE Small-Cap Index closed at 6,904.43 down 268.98 points (3.75%), while the BSE Mid-Cap Index ended at 5,664.89 down 139.59 points (2.4%).

Among the 30-Sensex pack, 28 declined while only 2 ended green.

Telecom services provider Bharti Airtel was the top loser, down 6.48% to Rs 749.95, on a volume of 4.59 lakh shares.

Private sector ICICI Bank slumped 4.45% to Rs 906.25, on a volume of 3.46 lakh shares. The scrip had also slipped to a low of Rs 899.15. A surprise hike in CRR announced recently continues to weigh on the stock. Other banking and financial stocks like SBI (down 2.11% to Rs 1057), HDFC Bank (down 2.10% to Rs 968), UTI Bank (down 5.36% to Rs 491), Union Bank of India (down 3.43% to Rs 98.50) were not spared either. The BSE Bankex lost 3.42%.

Grasim (down 6.05% to Rs 2270), ITC (down 5.10% to Rs 165.15) and Reliance Communications (down 4.78% to Rs 429) were the other prominent losers.

Maruti Udyog (MUL) was down 1.50% to Rs 866. Moving ahead with its plan to exit the car maker, the Central Government on Thursday invited expressions of interest (EoIs) from public sector financial institutions, banks and mutual funds for selling its remaining 10.27% stake in the company.

The process is likely to fetch the government at least Rs 2,600 crore, based on Thursday's closing of Rs 880 on the BSE. The government had said last year it will completely exit MUL, in which Japan's Suzuki owns a controlling 54.2% stake, by selling its residual 2.96 crore shares (Rs 5 face value). The money raised from the sale will go to the government, and not the National Investment Fund (NIF), as MUL is no longer a public sector.

Private sector Tata Steel was a top gainer, up 0.39% to Rs 457.90, on a volume of 24.71 lakh shares. The stock had struck a high of Rs 466.85, and was looking strong throughout the day. Reports say that Corus had hiked hot/cold rolled prices for European markets by 5 - 7% for the second quarter 2007 deliveries. The decision to increase the prices is a reflection of favourable market conditions. The Anglo-Dutch steel company was last month acquired by Tata Steel.

"Demand is improving and the stocks are at normal levels. The current strong demand for steel in Europe - particularly in construction and end-user sectors - supports this price increase," a spokesperson for Corus said.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) was up 0.30%, to Rs 1418, on a volume of 12.60 lakh shares. It had, however, slipped from a high of Rs 1442.75. The companys board meets on 24 February 2007 to review plans for raising $2 billion.

Power Finance Corporation moved higher, and settled on BSE at Rs 111.55, a premium over the IPO price of Rs 85. The stock debuted at Rs 104, hit a low of Rs 103.50, and a high of Rs 117. Volumes in the stock were huge, at 4.06 crore shares, on account of multiple block deals.

The IPO had received a strong investor response. It was subscribed 77.24 times, amidst heavy bidding by FIIs, and was priced at the upper end of the Rs 73 - Rs 85 price band. NSE has also included the stock in the futures & options segment. The lot size of PFC in the derivative segment is 2,400.

Power Finance Corporation has a large equity base of Rs 1148 crore and the face value per share is Rs 10.

Fears of a slowdown in housing demand due to rising cost of funds has dented real estate scrips, some of which were down between 2 - 5% today. A number of banks have raised lending rates over the past few days following a hike in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by the Reserve Bank of India on 13 February 2007. After making lending to the real estate sector difficult, the RBI has now placed restrictions on finance companies investing in real estate. The demand for home loans has already slowed at a time, when home loan rates are going up.

Unitech (down 5% to Rs 382.10), Ansal Infrastructure (down 1.85% to Rs 585), Parsvnath Developers (down 4% to Rs 284.85), Sobha Developers (down 1.11% to Rs 790) and Mahindra Gesco Developers (down 1.11% to Rs 593) declined.

Real estate scrips have been at the receiving end over the last few days after a solid rally over the past two years, thanks to the housing sector boom due to easy availability of housing finance and relatively benign interest rates. The surge in real estate stocks was also because of the property boom, which has seen real estate prices increase manifold.

Jaiprakash Associates declined 8.20% to Rs 577, in an overall weak market, after the central bank banned purchases by foreign funds, as they had reached 22%.

Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) rose 4% to Rs 438.15, following a block deal of 1 lakh shares, which was struck at Rs 455 in early trade.

JSW Steel rose 2% to Rs 461.60, on expectations of a rise in domestic steel prices. There are talks that steelmakers will raise prices by Rs 1000 per tonne, post-budget, on the back of firm global steel prices.

Gail India gained 1.7% to Rs 277.90. The stock recovered from the lower level, after having lost 3.3% to Rs 273.15 on Thursday (22 February) even when the company had announced during trading hours that its board will meet on 6 March 2007 to consider payment of a special interim dividend for FY-2007 (year ending 31 March 2007). Gail India has set 12 March 2007 as a record date for interim dividend.

Clariant Chemicals rose 0.80% to Rs 302.05, in a weak market, after posting a net profit growth of 460.60% to Rs 7.40 crore in Q3 December 2006 compared with Rs 1.32 crore in Q3 December 2005. Net sales for the quarter rose 138.20% to Rs 228.20 crore from Rs 95.81 crore in the year ago quarter.

Sterlite Optical Technologies was down 6.62% to Rs 177. It had received contracts worth Rs 150 crore from state-run Power Grid Corp of India. The stock had touched an intraday high of Rs 197.

Wockhardt rose 0.47% to Rs 332.