Markets lose steam midway

The Sensex opened 472 points above its previous close, tracking firm leads from Asian markets. It was a good opening supported with good volumes and a positive market breadth. Buoyancy in heavyweights, information technology, health care and teck stocks in the afternoon helped the Sensex touch the day's high of 11,870 (561 points higher than yesterday’s close). However as trading progressed the Sensex lost its momentum and gave up its early gains on across-the-board selling. The market appeared to be heading towards a negative close, but selective buying at lower levels helped the Sensex wrap-up the session with a gain of 174 points at 11,483. Nifty closed the session by adding 28 points at 3,519.

The market breadth was positive. Of the 2,681 stocks traded on the BSE 1,645 stocks advanced whereas 974 stocks declined. Sixty two stocks ended unchanged. Among the sectoral indices, the BSE IT flared up by 5.36%, BSE HC rose 4.66%, BSE Teck moved up by 3.74% and BSE Realty was up 1.84%.

Barring a few, the Sensex stocks ended higher. Satyam Computer Services flared up 7.38% at Rs289, Infosys Technologies shot up by 5.87% at Rs1,397.05, JP Associates zoomed 5.20% at Rs85, ICICI Bank moved up by 5.18% at Rs447.10, Reliance Infrastructure scaled up 5.09% at Rs632.25, Tata Power surged by 5.06% at Rs830.15, Bharti Airtel jumped by 3.30% at Rs764.30 and Reliance Industries gained 3.14% at Rs1,619.70.

Over 2.17 crore Core Projects and Technologies shares changed hands on the BSE followed by IFCI (1.09 crore shares), Reliance Natural Resources (1.04 crore shares), GVK Power and Infrastructure (1.01 crore shares) and Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals (0.68 crore shares).

Valuewise, ICICI Bank clocked a turnover of Rs257 crore followed by Reliance Capital (Rs217 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs210 crore), State Bank of India (Rs185 crore) and Core Projects and Technologies (Rs143 crore).