Sensex corrects, drops 66 points

Partly reflecting the global market trend and an anticipated correction from the recent run-up to higher levels, the market today took a beating on the back selling pressure. Within seconds after opening slightly above its previous close at 13873, the Sensex slipped into the red and witnessed selling by mid-morning trades to touch the day's low of 13770, down 159 points from the day's high. Although the market remained in negative territory through the trading session, selective buying in afternoon trades trimmed the losses of the index. The Sensex finally wrapped up the session with losses of 59 points at 13757 while the Nifty dropped 7 points to close at 3964.

But the breadth of market was positive. Of the 2,696 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,407 stocks advanced, 1,218 stocks declined and 74 stocks ended unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE CD index advanced 2.34% at 3574, the BSE CG index gained 1.12% at 9090 and the BSE Metal index was up 0.85% at 9040. While, BSE HC, Auto and Metal index ended with steady gains. However, BSE FMCG, Bankex, IT, Oil&Gas, PSU and TEck index closed with marginal loss.

Among the steep falls, HLL dropped 1.70% at Rs217, Gujarat Ambuja declined 1.57% at Rs141, Reliance Communication lost 1.24% at Rs471, Satyam Computers shed 1.12% at Rs484 and Cipla was down 1.01% at Rs251. ITC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, ONGC and Bajaj Auto ended on the weaker side. DR Reddys, ACC and Tata Steel, however, bucked the downtrend and moved up 1% each at Rs811, Rs 1,086 and Rs482, respectively. TCS, SBI, Herohonda Motors, L&T, Maruti Udyog and NTPC also ended in the green.

Other than the Sensex stocks, the major laggards were J&K Bank sheds 5.59% at Rs620, Sun TV moved down 3.38% at Rs1,430 and FDC, Alok industries, IGate Global, Oriental Bank, Shipping Corporation and I-Flex have dipped 2% each. Among the gainers, DLink India added 12.87% at Rs93, Ramco System advanced 9.98% at Rs223, GTL gained 9.40% Rs146, Bharat Earth Movers, Titan Industries, Bombay Dyeing and Mphasis reported gains of above 6-7% each.

Himadri Chemicals at Rs340, KSB Pumps at Rs680, Aditya Birla at Rs1,252, Mahindra & Mahindra at Rs909.95, ICI India at Rs439, Oscar Investments at Rs160, Modern India at Rs181.40 and Simplex Trading at Rs97.70 touched all-time highs on the BSE.

SAIL was the most actively traded counter on the BSE with trades of over 18.53 lakh shares on the BSE followed by Parsvnath (17.52 lakh shares), Reliance Communication (14.52 lakh shares) and GTL (14.42 lakh shares).

Reliance Industries recorded a turnover of Rs96.10 crore followed by Parsvnath (Rs79.36 crore), Sobha Developers (Rs68.67 crore) and Bombay Dyeing (Rs67.40 crore).