Profit taking trims Sensex gains

Even as major Asian indices like Nikkei, Hang Seng, Straits Times and Kospi managed to clock 2-4% gains, the Sensex failed to hold on to its early rally and closed way off its highs amid profit taking towards the closing hours. Riding on the back of yesterday's buoyant close and optimism in several international markets, the Sensex resumed 397 points higher at 16,023 and advanced sharply on sustained buying support to move above 16,200 and touch an intra-day high of 16,237. After remaining above 16,000 for the entire first half, the Sensex came under the grip of profit taking and slipped below 15,750 to touch the day's low of 15,719, 92 points above the last close of 15,627. The index finally ended the session with gains of 124 points at 15,750, while the Nifty gained 15 points to close at 4,754.

Among the front liners, HDFC soared 4.68% at Rs2,470, Infosys rose 4.26% at Rs1,482, ICICI Bank added 3.65% at Rs784, Jaiprakash Associates jumped 3.08% at Rs232.20, Satyam Computers advanced 2.48% at Rs407.25, Mahindra & Mahindra gained 2.45% at Rs666.25 and Bharti Airtel soared 2.41% at Rs824.05. However, Reliance Energy dropped 4.51% at Rs1,230 while Tata Steel declined 3.21% at Rs645.95 and BHEL lost 2.08% at Rs1,852.

The breadth of the market was positive. Of the 2,720 stocks traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 1,763 stocks advanced, 910 stocks declined and 47 stocks ended unchanged. On the sectoral front, 7 out of 13 sectoral indices ended in positive territory. The BSE IT was the lead performer and rose 2.93% at 3,644.35, while the BSE Bankex and Teck index gained 2% each.

IT stocks continued to witness strong buying support. Moser Bear shot up by 4.42% at Rs159.45, Infosys scaled up 4.26% at Rs1,481.95, Rolta India added 4.03% at Rs266, Satyam gained 2.48% at Rs407.25 and Financial Technology scaled up 2.34% at Rs1,640. TCS, I-Flex and HCL Technology ended in positive territory.

Over 1.49 crore IB Securities shares changed hands on the BSE followed by RPL (1.22 crore shares), Kashyap (1.10 crore shares), RNRL (1.02 crore shares) and Essar Oil (0.95 crore shares).