Post Session Commentary - Feb 18 2008

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 113 points at 18,228, and touched a high of 18,257 in early deals. The index, however, could not hold gains as profit-taking at higher levels saw the index slip into negative zone.

Profit-taking was seen mostly in technology, oil & gas and realty stocks. The index dropped to a low of 17,901 - down 356 points from the day's high - in mid-noon trades.

A fresh round of buying in FMCG scrips - Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and ITC - helped the index recover some loss and eventually end with a loss of 67 points at 18,048.

The index had gained around 1,500 points in the last three trading days last week.

The BSE Realty index dropped 2.8% to 10,207, and the IT index slipped 1.3% to 3,829. The FMCG index, howver, gained 2.3% at 2,258.

The NSE Nifty slipped 26 points to close at 5,277 today.

The BSE market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,772 stocks traded, 1,848 advanced and 874 declined today.

INDEX SHAKERS...

Satyam plunged nearly 3% to Rs 426. TCS slipped over 2% to Rs 852, and Wipro shed 1.5% at Rs 414.

Tata Motors tumbled 2.5% to Rs 733. DLF, BHEL and SBI slipped 2% each to Rs 860, Rs 2,216 and Rs 2,255, respectively.

Reliance dropped 1.5% to Rs 2,552, and ONGC was down over 1% at Rs 1,021.

...AND THE MOVERS

Mahindra & Mahindra rallied 4% to Rs 643. Hindalco soared over 3% to Rs 184.

ITC surged 3.3% to Rs 210, and HUL moved up 2.5% to Rs 217.

ICICI Bank advanced 1.4% to Rs 1,208. Bajaj Auto was up over 1% at Rs 2,200.

VALUE & VOLUME TOPPERS

Reliance Power topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 472 crore followed by Reliance Natural Resources (Rs 376 crore), Essar Oil (Rs 166.50 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 158.60 crore) and Reliance Petroleum (Rs 153.60 crore).

Reliance Natural Resources led the volume chart with trades of around 2.66 crore shares followed by Ispat Industries (2.22 crore), Reliance Power (1.13 crore), Nagarjuna Fertilisers (99.25 lakh) and Himachal Futuristic (93.70 lakh).