Sensex drops 37pts, RIL ends above Rs 2,000

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 66 points at 15,609, and touched a high of 15,661 in early deals. Profit-taking at higher levels limited the rally, and the index exhibited lacklustre movement for most of the trading session today.

Selling in late trades saw the index slip to a low of 15,487 - down 174 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 37 points at 15,505.

The market breadth was positive - out of 2,753 stocks traded, 1,537 advanced, 1,163 declined and 53 were unchanged today.

INDEX MOVERS...

Reliance Energy soared over 3% to Rs 888. Bajaj Auto rallied 2.5% to Rs 2,392.

Reliance moved up over 1% to Rs 2,013. HDFC was up nearly 1% at Rs 2,166.

...AND THE SHAKERS

NTPC declined nearly 3% at Rs 190. ITC dropped 2% to Rs 180, and ICICI Bank slipped 1.8% to Rs 885.

Cipla declined 1.5% to Rs 175. Hindalco, Satyam, Ambuja Cements and Larsen & Toubro were down around 1% each at Rs 155, Rs 429, Rs 142 and Rs 2,564, respectively.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance Capital topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 209.50 crore followed by Everonn Systems (Rs 154 crore), Reliance (Rs 151.40 crore), Larsen & Toubro (Rs 142 crore) and Reliance Energy (Rs 133 crore).

Tata Teleservices led the volume chart with trades of around two crore shares followed by Nagarjuna Fertilisers (1.85 crore), Ispat Industries (1.50 crore), IFCI (1.46 crore) and Vishal Exports (1.26 crore).