Profit taking trims early gains

The northbound trend remained intact for the third consecutive session. The market witnessed volatile moves and the Sensex witnessed a swing of 215 points during intra-day trades, but failed to hold on to its early gains and closed off its highs amid profit taking towards the close. Riding on the back of yesterday's buoyant close and optimism in several international markets, the Sensex resumed 135 points higher at 16,289 and advanced sharply on sustained buying support to move above 16,400 and touch a new intra-day high of 16,414. After remaining above 16,300 for the entire first half of the trading session, the index witnessed profit taking and slipped below 16,200 to touch the day's low of 16,199, which was 45 points below its last close of 16,154. However, the Sensex ended the session with steady gains of 91 points at 16,244, while Nifty gained one point to close at 4,887.

Among the gainers, Infosys surged 5.90% at Rs1,599.95, Wipro soared 5.35% at Rs447.35, REL (Reliance Energy Ltd) jumped 3.44% at Rs1,345.25, Hindalco (Hindalco Industries Ltd) rose 1.70% at Rs176.50, RIL (Reliance Industries Ltd) advanced 1.38% at Rs2,644.80, Reliance Communications added 1.13% at Rs525.65, ICICI Bank scaled up 1.10% at Rs815.75 and ITC moved up by 1.01% at Rs210.05. DLF, Grasim Industries, Satyam Computer, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki and Cipla ended the day in positive territory. However, Ambuja Cement dropped 3.60% at Rs112.35, BHEL fell 3.22% at Rs1,778.15, Jaiprakash Associates lost 2.31% at Rs213.75, Tata Motors shed 1.96% at Rs613.25, NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) slumped 1.83% at Rs187.95, HUL (Hindustan Unilever Ltd) dropped 1.77% at Rs241.05 and Bharti Airtel slipped 1.55% at Rs804. ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation), HDFC Bank, ACC, SBI (State Bank of India), Ranbaxy Laboratories, M&M (Mahindra and Mahindra), Tata Steel, L&T(Larsen & Toubro) and TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) ended the day in negative territory.

The market breadth was positive. Of the 2,754 stocks traded on the BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange), 1,862 stocks advanced, 818 stocks declined and 74 stocks ended unchanged. Baring CG (capital goods), power, and PSU (public sector units) index all the sectoral indices ended in green with the BSE CG moving down by 0.52%, BSE Power index and BSE PSU index were marginally down.

IT stocks were in the limelight once again. All the IT stocks ended with steady gains, with Aptech being the major gainer with gains of 14.53% at Rs263.25. Tech Mahindra advanced 6.65% at Rs912.10, NIIT added 6.21% at Rs102.55, HCL Technologies has surged 5.98% at Rs260.50, Infosys has advanced 5.90% at Rs1,599.95 and Wipro is up 5.35% at Rs447.35. Patni Computers, Rolta India, NIIT Technology, Mphasis and I-Flex gained 1.12% each. Financial Technologies, Satyam Computer and Moser Baer ended the day in green. However only TCS dropped 0.07% at Rs974.45.

Over 2.59 crore RNRL (Reliance Natural Resources Ltd) shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (2.46 crore shares), RPL (Reliance Petroleum Ltd;1.86 crore shares), Sita Shree Food Products (1.43 crore shares) and BL Kashyap (1.25 crore shares).

Valuewise, Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd registered a turnover of Rs783 crore on the BSE followed by RPL (Rs355 crore), RIL (Reliance Industries Ltd; Rs291 crore), RNRL (Rs284 crore) and Onmobile (Rs199 crore).