Sensex erases its lows but sheds 96 points at close

Weak global cues and negative breadth in yesterday's trades, led the market open at a lower today. The Sensex was down 86 points at the open and remained subdued, as investors booked profits after the recent gains. IT, banking, consumer durables and reality stocks took the major beating, but healthcare stocks bucked the trend on gains in Cadila Healthcare and Ranbaxy Laboratories. The index faltered under selling pressure by afternoon and slipped to the day's low of 14,645. While the market fluctuated sharply thereafter, firm bullish sentiment and strong buying in heavyweights and health care stocks in the late trades helped the Sensex erase most of its losses. The Sensex finally ended the session by shedding 1.17% or 177 points at 14,889. Nifty slipped by 51 points at 4,450.

The market breadth was negative. Of the 2,698 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,658 stocks declined, 971 stocks advanced and 69 stocks ended unchanged. Most of the sectoral indices ended in red. The BSE IT index dropped 2.75% at 4,284 followed by the BSE Bankex index (down 2.43% at 6,740), the BSE CD index (down 2.37% at 3,841) and the BSE Realty index (down 2.11% at 5,631). However, the BSE HC index gained 2.16% at 4,412 and the BSE Oil & Gas index (up 0.15% at 9.691).

Heavyweights led the fall in the Sensex. HDFC slipped by 4.79% at Rs2,064, ONGC slumped by 4.74% at Rs872.60, HDFC Bank shed 4.46% at Rs1,118, Tata Consultancy Services lost 3.89% at Rs867.20, Jaiprakash Associates was down 3.54% at Rs173.10 and Infosys tumbled by 2.89% at Rs1,795.35. Among the gainers Ranbaxy Laboratories jumped 6.53% at Rs560.75, Cipla gained 2.13% at Rs211.05, Reliance Industries soared 1.68% at Rs2,199, Hindustan Unilever rose by 1.57% at Rs234.40 and Maruti Suzuki India was up 0.76% at Rs741.50, while ACC, BHEL, Hindalco and Ambuja Cements ended with modest gains.

Over 1.85 crore IFCI shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Reliance Petroleum(1.36 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.34 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (1.31 crore shares) and Spice Telecommunications (1.00 crore shares).

Reliance Industries registered a turnover of Rs281 crore on the BSE followed by Reliance Capital (Rs261 crore), Reliance Petroleum (Rs231 crore), Ranbaxy Laboratories (Rs213 crore) and Anu’s Laboratories (Rs167 crore).